The Prompt: Story Ideas and One-shots to share
by Literature work
Summary: Here I am going to be posting uncompleted stories and ideas that I am allowing others to use and write. I might continue them later, I might not but I have too many stories to write in my short life. I will be posting story snippets, plots, and prompts here. I will try to add a contents page. Please review if you like or are going to use an idea. ANYONE CAN ADOPT ANY STORY.
1. Contents

Contents

Chapter 2: Two worlds One Family

 ** _Summary:_** _Edward and Alphonse lost their family and now they lost each other. Adopted by separate families, the both of them are in constant search for each other though so far they have been out of luck. Edward, adopted by an alchoholic football obsessed Shou Tucker, struggles to get by and now has to deal with an unsuspected stranger who is just about to turn his horrible world upside down; Winry Rockbell._

Chapter 3: The Station

 **Summary:** _Edward and Alphonse are private investigators in a small business. Just out of college, they are struggling to get a start in life and prove themselves capable of something more than minor police jobs. The police department calls Edward in as a translator for a case where a Xingese girl was shot in the shoulder by a failed assassination plot. How far is he willing to go to solve this case?_

Chapter 4: Welcome to Hell

 **Summary:** _Roy Mustang just moved into the neighborhood into a house that has been abandoned for years. All he wanted was some peace and quiet after the war but that was the last thing he was going to get. After finding an unexpected roommate, Roy struggles to come to realise that not all haunted houses are scary. Inspired from an original cartoon short by Erica Waters with the same title. (More of the ghostly annoyance aspect of it)_

Chapter 5: Hellhound

 **Summary:** _Based off of the AMV John the Hellhound by Silent Man. Edward, haunted by the death of Nina Tucker and Shou's last words to him, goes completely insane. Violent, tormented by his past failures Edward becomes the team's worst enemy. Roy tries to find out what happened to his subordinate before even more people are hurt._

Chapter 6:Behind the Name

 **Summary:** _Edward didn't like Roy Mustang the instant he set eyes on him on the Express. He was arrogant, pompous, and had a_ two-dimensional _smirk on his face that any smart person could see through. However, he quickly learned how stupid so many people could be. Harry Potter/FMA crossover_

Chapter 7: the Steadfast Tin Soldier

Summary: Edward is a little tin soldier without a leg. What person would ever like a broken toy? Ignored by the other soldiers he adventures around the playroom to find a windup robot toy named Alphonse. He learns that not everyone who is incomplete is really broken.

Chapter 8: Sold

 _ **Summary:** Roy Mustang is a physicist who works on new inventions with his adopted daughter Winry as his mechanic. However, unfunded by the universities for his too advanced theories, he continues to run the plantation he inherited to make a living and fund his research. After one of his slave drivers, Kimblee, announces that one of his slaves passed away. Mustang needs to buy a replacement to keep his crop tended. Unbeknownst to him, his buy is going to prove more stressful yet more rewarding than he thought._

Chapter 9: The Girl from the Other Side

 ** _Summary:_** _Based on The Girl from the Other Side by Nagabe. After a terrible accident, Winry wakes up to find herself lost in the dark woods away from the safety of her village in the hands of a cursed outsider. In an adventure to return her back to her family, she will find that sometimes monsters are not as dangerous as they are foretold to be._

Chapter 10: The World Inside Me

 _ **Summary:** Every person has their own internal world where their mind wanders to in their _ day dreams _. It is_ a world _that holds no secrets but the ones the owner doesn't tell. It is the true essence of the person living_ as a world _inside of them. People rarely let someone see this world, often keeping it closed off or covered up in the folds and pockets of their clothes. Edward doesn't wear that big coat just because he thinks it looks cool. Inspired by fanart by Lightsout777 on_ tumblr _._


	2. Two Worlds One Family

_**Two Worlds One Family**_

 ** _Summary:_** _Edward and Alphonse lost their family and now they lost each other. Adopted by separate families, the both of them are in constant search for each other though so far they have been out of luck. Edward, adopted by an alchoholic football obsessed Shou Tucker, struggles to get by and now has to deal with an unsuspected stranger who is just about to turn his horrible world upside down; Winry Rockbell._

Plot: Their father left when they were little and their mother died in a car crash that hospitalized the both of them. Edward lost his limbs while Alphonse gained partial paralysis in his legs, forcing him to walk with braces. Alphonse was put up for adoption as soon as he was released and was taken in by a nice family who owns a deli in the rich part of Central, the Curtis'. Edward was released from the hospital far after Alphonse and stayed in the orphanage until Shou Tucker adopts him out of pure disgust for his state. He forcefully gives him automail and takes him home to live with his asthma induced daughter Nina.

Edward attends a private boarding school with the inheritance that he recieved from his mother. There he takes advanced classes and struggles to stay afloat with his grades. Tucker, valuing sports over grades, reprimands Edward for being too spending time on useless figures. Edward is forced to fail certain exams to maintain a C+ average in his studies for the man's satisfication. Though Edward hates playing football, he is actually pretty good at it and earns a capable spot on the team. Though his father tries to control his life Edward uses the school laboratories to fund his own research project to create a suitable synthetic cornea which once made he would test on his blind lab rat Maus.

In order to earn money to pay for school, his automail maintenance and house hold necessities like Nina's inhaler, Edward has a job at the local sub shop with Jean Havoc which is run by Roy Mustang, an old war veteran who was blinded in an IED explosion. Roy acts like a father to him, giving the boy advise and helping him through the college process. He knows of Edward's lost brother and is on the look out for any information that might come into the shop about him.

Riza is Edward's teacher who notices his slipping grades and finds his fully completed homework in the garbage. She is worried about him and knows that Edward would not be able to get into the school he should with his transcripts. She doesn't know Edward's home situation and tries to talk to Tucker about Edward's classes just to find that the man is thrilled with his status as a C+ student. Edward, wanting the extra help, instructs Riza to meet him at the sub shop after hours so that he could work on classes and scholarships. There Riza meets Roy.

Other characters:

Izumi Curtis: supplies the subshop with meats. Roy goes there to pick up some ham and runs into Alphonse who was running the counter that day. He doesn't realise it is him at first because he can't see his resemblance but after a conversation realises it is Edward's lost brother.

Breda: helps Roy with his bills since he can't see the numbers

Olivier Armstrong: works for child services. Continues to find a way to get Edward out of the Tucker's family by Roy's request however found insufficient evidence for the case. She knows it is illegal to separate family and also works to try and find Alphonse... in her own way. Assistant: Miles

Noteable scenes:

1\. Nina's death: Tucker doesn't retrieve nina's inhaler from the pharmacy though Edward constantly berrates him about it. One day though she just runs out and they don't have it. Edward and Tucker get into a fight when suddenly Nina starts to have an attack. Edward struggles to find her medicine but comes up empty. He picks her up, calls 911, and runs as fast as he can to the pharmacy to try and save her life. He breaks into the pharmacy when the ambulance arrives but he unfortunately couldn't retrieve her medicine. She is taken to the hospital but unfotunately its too late.

2\. The Story of Hughes: Hughes died in the IED that took Roy' sight. Haunted by his friends death, Roy sometimes breaks down from memories of the event (PTSD). Edward, when there, sometimes has to try and calm him down. Maes used to play the piano and even when over seas he wrote music for Gracia and their daughter back home. Roy likes to hear the piano and Edward is able to play the songs that Hughes used to.

3\. Havoc's paralysis: Havoc gets into a car accident as he tries to deliver subs on his moped. He is run into from a crude driver resembling Lust (no homunculi just people that resemble)

4\. Edward breaks his arm in a football game and has to get maintenance done. He finds Winry in the automail shop. Though they had a hateful relationship before this, Edward gets rather embarrassed and flustered around her in the store cause he secretly does like her. Their hate for one another dissolves and they become really good friends. Winry later learns about his situation.

Two Worlds One Family

Winry sat in the back of the sleek black car and stared out of the foggy windows into the watery abyss that was Central. She had always dreamed of coming to the city, she had never been before, but under the circumstances she was under she now wished for her quiet comfy home in Resembool. It was cold here and everything seemed to be grey, even the people on the street. Winry sighed as she pressed her forehead against the freezing window pane of the car.

"I am sure you will like it at St. Flamel' is a good school, good people," the man driving said to her quietly. She knew that Mr. Miles was just trying to cheer her up but it was a forced conversation that he knew even he wasn't comfortable with.

"Yes, I know," she replied halfheartedly. There was a long moment of silence as she listened to the patter of rain on the windshield of the government vehicle. She really didn't want to go to a private school in the middle of the city, she just wanted to stay in Resembool with her Granny and her workshop, but that wasn't possible anymore.

"You will stay at the school until we find someone who will be willing to take you in. It shouldn't take too long. The dormitories aren't too bad, just recently been renovated. You might actually like it," Miles said, still trying to prompt a conversation out of her. Winry gave him a weak smile and nodded her head. The car was yet again filled with silence and Winry tightened her jacket around her waist. She couldn't picture anyone taking her in aside from Pinako, but she was gone. A stupid accident in the automail shop and Winry was now forced into child services. It all happened too fast. Though the people were nice enough, and she knew they were trying to help her, she was now halfway across the country away from her friends, her home, and her work bench. She not only lost her grandmother, but the one thing connecting her, automail. Miles sighed as he turned the car round a corner.

"I know it must be hard, Ms. Rockbell. I was your age when my grandfather passed and…" he stumbled a bit, a slim smile forming on reminence of a memory. A person would have originally seen it as peaceful, but Winry only saw the slight underline of loss. Miles cleared his throat and adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. "Well, the last memorable thing he said to me was that you need to remember that the earth is round. The sun might be shining on your back now, but if you walk far enough it will be morning again and the sun will be shining in your face. There might be some good out there, you just need to find it. Of course that was because I broke up with my first girlfriend but… it worked even then as it works now." Winry felt tears pick up in her eyes as the numbness that she felt just started to fade. She wiped them furiously and tried to keep herself under control.

"Th-thankyou, Mr. Miles," she mumbled as she felt the car pull to a halt. A hand rested on her shoulder right after the car was put on park. She looked up and the man was smiling gently down at him through his black sunglasses that he wore even when the sky was grey as it was.

"Everything will be alright, just don't worry."

…...

Winry hauled her suitcases into the St. Flamel's dormitory after several hours of tours and admissions work. Mr. Miles left her to settle down in her dorm as he still had paperwork to get to back at his offices. He was very helpful and in the end she did feel bad for being so sour to him most of the ride from Resembool. It turned out that class was already four weeks into session so there were plenty of students already on the large elaborate campus. Even now, the dorm was filled packed with rampaging teenagers, each screaming at each other and the football game that was on the television. Winry poked her head into the lounge area where the television was located. It was packed full of people, she guessed that everyone in the dorm was there. Some people were piled over each other on the couch and sofas that cluttered the room but others were standing or sitting on other various counter tops and study desks. Winry had to duck and dodge people who were a little too excited for the game. It looked to be a crappy recording from someone's video camera. Some of the players were dressed in purple and gold, who the students were constantly booing at, and the others were dressed in the red and black of St. Flamel's.

"Edward you did it again!" she heard a short black haired boy exclaim as a specifically short football player clad in black practically did a backflip over an opponent and cleared nearly half the field before being taken down by an athlete twice his size. His arms swung a little too wide when he cheered and accidentally hit her shoulder. He spun around, his face flushed red as he caught sight of her, his large square glasses nearly falling off of his face in fright of himself. "Ohh...s-s-s-" Winry was rather taken back that he was so startled by her. He didn't even hit her that hard. He was stumbling over an apology and Winry quickly tried to wave him off in an attempt to keep him from hurting himself.

"I-it's alright. I am fine," she quickly blurted out and the kid seemed to relax ever so slightly even though his face was still bright red. "I am Winry… do you know where room 311 is?" she asked him. The boy's mouth was clamped shut but he quickly nodded his head. She waited for any form of direction or guidance but the boy seemed to be frozen stiff even though he was trembling a bit. "A-are you okay?"

"That's Kain for you, a communications fanatic and he can't even talk to cute girls," she heard a light laugh come out. A blond haired boy walked over and slapped his arm around the kid's shoulder as he took a short sip of his iced tea he was drinking. He smelled like ash which the short kid obviously wasn't comfortable with. "I am guessing he didn't introduce himself. This little guy is Kain Fuery, and I am his friend, Jean Havoc." He switched his drink to his other hand and held one out for a shake. She took it questionably as the crowd suddenly erupted into cheers as another touchdown happened.

"Winry Rockbell," she screamed over the obnoxious noise. Havoc nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"You are new here or just a freshman? I never saw you around before."

"I-I just… moved from the countryside," she mumbled as she was suddenly reminded of the wonderful green fields of Resembool. They were so beautiful compared to the dull grey wash of the Central city streets. Though the campus they were now on had green grass for a good square mile, it just wasn't the same.

"Hey! You're a country bumpkin!" Jean exclaimed with sudden fascination. "So am I! I came from East City!"

"But… that's practically a metropolis," Winry stated, busting Jean's imaginary origins and sending Kain into a fit of stifled laughter at his friend's expense. Jean elbowed Kain in the ribs to which the short boy returned.

"It's still not like this," Jean shrugged lightly, a poor act to defend his case. "Are you moved in? I was filming the football game all day so I wouldn't know any of the news that goes on here-" Winry looked at the television screen and saw the shaky cameraman skills. It wasn't the best, by far the worst, but it was better than having no game.

"No, my stuff is still out in the hall. I was asking Kain where my room was."

"Roo-room th-three t-ten," Kain stuttered in Jean's and Winry's surprise. Kain's redness returned and Jean smiled giving the kid a good reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Well, why don't we help?" Jean offered, a quick excited nod of the head from Kain followed.

"Thank you," Winry smiled in gratitude. "I just want to get settled in as soon as possible so I could… think things over a bit." Kain hopped up from his seat and marched out of the crowded lounge with Jean and Winry following close behind him. Winry stopped to pick up her stuff and the boy's offered to help with her few suitcases. Jean attempted to pick up one but barely was able to lift it off of the floor.

"Holy hell, what is in this thing?" he complained as Winry handed off another lighter suitcase to him. Kain was laughing a bit under his breath, poking fun at his friend.

"Just my tools," Winry answered as she picked it up herself. Jean turned even more red from embarrassment, his jaw open in shock.

"T-t-tools?" Kain managed to make out. Winry smiled softly and looked down fondly at the chest she was holding.

"Y-yeah. I… used to work with my grandmother on automail… but, well, now I just have them because I couldn't let go of them," she mumbled a tang of sadness building up in her. She let out a breath and forced a smile onto her face but Kain gave her a look of sympathy knowing that something was wrong. She was kind of glad he didn't voice his observation because she quickly decided to just sweep it under the carpet for a later time. "Well, let's get all of this stuff to my room. No point in standing out here in the hallway right?"

Kain took the lead as he lead them through the bottom floor of the dormitory to the end of the hallway. Jean was giving her an oral explanation of every nook and cranny of the place as they walked.

"Yeah, so, this place is a co ed dorm where the guys are on the top floor and girls are on the bottom. There's the showers," he quickly interrupted himself as they passed communal showers. Some girls were obviously cleaning as steam was piling out from underneath the door. "Kain lives here too so you might see him around a bit."

"What about you?" Winry asked as they halted outside of her room. Her room mate must have been out as the door was locked tight. She set her stuff down and pulled out her keys.

"Me? I am a commuter. I live just a few blocks away since we moved from the East City a couple years ago. My parent's had a big business opportunity and they sent me here freshman year," the kid answered.

"F-f-floral a-arrang-gments," Kain struggled to elaborate. Jean kicked his friend in the shins annoyed that he would relay that information. Winry chuckled as she unlocked her room and kicked the door open so that they could all enter. Jean and Kain walked in first and Winry grabbed her stuff to follow. It was a small room with a bunk bed, a sink and two closets. The far side of the room was covered in Xingese tapestries and lanterns. It was lit up almost like a festival. The glow looked nearly enchanting however the light didn't shine over to the other side of the room, her side. Winry looked at the bare walls where tape and glue seemed to still be stuck from the previous owner. It was empty and desolate compared to her roommate's. It was nothing like home. Jean and Kain were already setting her stuff on her bed which was the bottom of the bunk. Jean was talking randomly about some topic or another while Kain was nodding his head in agreement happily. However, Winry felt her eyes water a bit. She wiped them to try and stop herself but Kain seemed to notice and he walked over to where she was standing near the doorway. Jean seemed to notice his friend's action and quickly shut up as he realised what was going on. Kain rested his hand on her shoulder as if asking if she was alright. Winry shook her head furiously.

"I-It's just so different. Changing so fast," she mumbled as she forced herself to regain her composure.

"Come on now, Winry," Jean smiled gently as he joined Kain's side. He bent a little to get with eye level of her as his height was slightly towering. "Everything will be alright. I know this must be different from home and you must miss your family a lot, but it isn't that bad. Once you move in it might make you feel we get let off for breaks or weekends you could go home and-" Winry shook her head making Jean stop.

"I can't. My grandmother… she was the one who took care of me but… but…"

"Oh," Jean mumbled almost inaudibly. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and Winry could tell he felt bad for bringing it up. "Is there anything we could do to help you feel more comfortable? I know it must be hard…"

"I… I don't think-" she started but suddenly got cut off as a light bulb seemed to strike on in Kain's head and he slapped Jean on the shoulder a little roughly.

"What?" Jean asked him, complaining as he rubbed his hurting shoulder. Though he and Kain seemed o be quite intune with each other for one he didn't know what he was getting at.

"G-gar-garf-fiel-ld's-"

"Who the crap is that?" Jean questioned. Kain looked aggravated as he wasn't able to make out what he wanted to say. He looked at Winry once with a determined look and motioned for her to stay right jetted out of the room and down the hallway for the stair case. Winry looked back to Jean in absolute confusion but he seemed just as bewildered. He let out a huff of air and massaged his face tiredly. "What are you doing now?" he grumbled underneath his breath. Winry walked over and sat on her bed which was now loaded with the few bags she had. Jean sat down on the bed with her, the silence suffocating. They sat for a few minutes and Winry calmed herself down to the point that she started to pick apart her bags to Jean's suggestion. They only got through half a bag before Kain came rushing back into the room carrying a wrinkled old flyer. He waved it in Jean's face and he snatched it grumpily out of his hands to read it better.

"You ran all of the way upstairs to get this?" Jean asked in disbelief. Winry leaned in curious to what they were looking at.

"What is it?" she asked not getting a good look. Jean rolled his eyes and handed it back to Kain who seemed very aggravated with his obliviousness.

"It is just some guy he fixed a radio for over the summer. He likes tech and the guy is a mechanic-"

"A-a-aaut-tom-mail," he told Winry, passing the flyer to her. She took it carefully and read the title.

"Garfield's Automail Shop and Outfitters?" she mumbled. Kain nodded his head and pointed to the bottom of the page. In absolutely microscopic writing it said Help Wanted underneath all of the advertisements it had. "They need a mechanic?" she asked, sudden excitement lifting. Kain furiously nodded his head. Winry stared at the flyer in bewilderment. She couldn't believe it. Stuck in this unfamiliar world and she was able to bump into not only two nice people, but the one person who knew where she could become herself again. Automail was the same everywhere. Though different styles and needs, it was something she grew up with, it was something familiar. Winry felt herself tear up slightly as complete joy tickled her skin. She flung her arms around the short little boy who suddenly froze stiff at her embrace. "Thankyou," she said to Kain whose face was completely beet red.

"n-no-o p-pr-rob-bl-lem," he muttered tensely.

….

Edward sighed as he rummaged through the cabinets in the kitchen, pulling out random medications. He heard Nina giggling happily in the background as Tucker got her ready for school. It was a bit chilly so Edward told him to make sure she had a hat. Fall was coming in quick and even though school just began a few weeks ago, it was already starting to cool off to the point that his joints were aggravating him.

He pulled down a box from the cabinet and looked in it, empty. He growled to himself as he tossed the empty casing aside. How many times did he have to tell that drunk bastard to get his own daughter her medication from the pharmacy? He kept digging. Reaching into the far depths of their medicine cabinet he found the one last inhaler they had. He read the side where he labelled the date when it would run out. It was only in a month. They needed more soon. Edward sighed to himself as he set it to the side and started to search the clutter for some pain relievers. He knew deep down that he wouldn't find any yet again but he still looked for the slim chance he might find a bottle that Tucker missed.

"Please tell me we have some aspirin," Edward grumbled to the other room where the man of the house was waiting patiently with his daughter. He heard a rough scoff and Edward rolled his eyes knowing what he was going to say next.

"What do you need that shit for? If you want to be a man handle your own pain," Tucker sniped at him, Edward mouthing the words mockingly as he said them. Edward growled under his breath and shoved all of the useless bottles and boxes back into the cabinet. He snatched the inhaler off of the counter and strapped his school bag around his shoulder before storming into the other room. Tucker was bent over Nina, tying a scarf around her neck near the door. She had a bright smile on her face as she was jumping up and down ready for school, her long brown braids bouncing with her. She was the only person Edward knew that actually wanted to go to school so early in the morning. Nina was smart, probably taking more after her mother than her father. She was practically running out of the door already. Shou, however, was smelling as pungent as ever with the reek of alcohol he used to celebrate St. Flamel's football game with. It was a tradition for him to douse himself in beer every single time he watched a football game. Edward wondered why he ever liked the sport that much unless the man wanted a death wish. Now the day after, he obviously was suffering from a huge hangover, flinching at the light laughter of his own daughter. Edward looked at the man with disgust.

"Maybe, because I buy it, I might want to use some of it instead of you selling it to your friends," Edward retorted. Tucker turned around and glared at him.

"Don't back talk me boy. Someone in this household has to pay bills and until your crippled ass gets that football scholarship, it has to be me. If you want to complain about how your stupid arm is hurting you, you could remember what it was like without one," the man retorted. Edward subconsciously reached up and grabbed his aching shoulder as if hoping it would just stop hurting. He could feel the stiffness of the metal through his jacket, a cool taunt of what the man was getting at. The green, bloodshot eyes of his dad glared down at him in full disgust. If he didn't appear to be a full human, the man wouldn't even have let him into his house. He felt a little hand grab the bottom of his jacket and he looked down to see Nina holding tight to him. She was impatiently waiting to be walked out to the school bus. Edward looked back at the man who was waiting for any type of retort that he could just tear into.

"I don't need it, it's only a little bit of pain," Edward huffed reluctantly as he bent down and handed Nina her inhaler. She pouted as she looked at it, crossing her arms in refusal.

"Big brother, I don't want it," Nina mumbled. Edward sighed as he reached out and gently unfolded her arms and pressed the inhaler securely into her hand. They had this conversation every Monday with her before school. It was like after every weekend she just grew this fascinating hatred for her medication while every Friday she was glad to be carrying it around. It was a cycle Edward knew she would grow out of, but it didn't look like it would be soon.

"Nina, remember the wheezes you get. Remember how terrifying they are?" he asked her and she dumbly nodded her head, upset. "You need to take this, have it on you at all times incase they come back. That's our last one so don't lose it. I am trusting you with it. You have to keep it safe, can you do that?" Edward asked her. She smiled weakly and nodded again, putting it in her little pink school bag she kept all of her miscellaneous homework in. Edward stood up and took her mittened hand in his and lead her to the door, Tucker tailed after them, hanging in the doorframe as they went outside. Pulling out his bicycle from the side of the porch where he parked it every day, Edward turned to Tucker to see the usual aggravated and dumb look the man wore all day long.

"Tucker, don't forget to pick up Nina's prescription tonight. I don't get off in time to make it to the pharmacy-"

"Stop pestering me. I will go when I go. Get to school," he growled at him. Edward huffed at him and turned around, grabbing Nina's hand with his left and guiding his bike with his right. They walked down the path from their house and onto the city sidewalk towards the bus stop where Nina's school picked her up. She skipped happily along beside him as if all was right in the world.

"Big brother, will you be able to pick me up when I get done with school? We could take Alexander for a walk and-"

"I am sorry Nina, but I have work tonight. Mr. Yoki will have to take you home. Maybe Friday I could see if I could get off early," Edward told her, watching her spirits drop fast. The pout returned and as adorable as it was, Edward felt guilty for having caused it. He was always a sucker for Nina's puppy dog eyes.

"You always say that," she mumbled. Edward sighed as he stopped them on the corner and watched the yellow bus pull up to a halt. The engine roared and the brakes squealed, the smell of diesel filled the air.

"How about I help you with your homework when I get home? I know you want help for your science test next week-"

"Thank you big brother!" Nina exclaimed as she gave him a quick hug and spun around for the bus which doors just opened. "I will make sure to bring home lots of work just for the two of us! We could work all night!"

"That's not what I meant!" Edward called out after her but she was already hopping up the tall steps of the yellow bus. As the doors closed and the engine gave a belching roar, Edward rolled his eyes with a smile. He spotted her waving out the window and he returned the gesture until the bus rounded the corner of the block. The instant the bus disappeared Edward's smile faded and he mounted his bike. Now it was time to face his own school day.

…..

"You know I already had two tours yesterday, I think I can find-"

"Yes, but Vato didn't give you one. Why wouldn't you want one from the one person who knows the most about it?" Jean interrupted the next morning as he steered Winry through the hallways and towards one of the many computer labs. Jean had returned to school bright and early that morning just to introduce Winry to even more people. She felt like a rag doll being dragged around to show people, but the kid didn't accept no as an answer. He pulled her into the computer lab where only a couple faces could be seen. Winry recognised one of them to be Kain from the previous evening. He was talking to another boy who looked slightly older than him with squinty eyes and amazingly blue hair. Kain was talking avidly to the kid about what seemed to be a old radio system he was looking at on the internet.

"Just imagine if I could get my hands on one of these," Kain said in fascination. "Since Edward doesn't have a cell phone a long distance radio could keep him in touch with everyone-"

"But Fury, we would all need to have one-" the kid told him.

"All you would need to do is sync the freque-que-que-," Kain started out until he caught sight of Winry entering the room. His face turned bright red as usual. The blue haired boy looked at him curiously as if something was wrong with him but then turned to see what he was looking at and understood instantly.

"Hello Havoc, hello Ms. Rockbell," he greeted with a smile.

"How-" Winry started to ask how he knew her but he gently cut her off.

"I heard that there was a new student today and I saw the teachers updated attendance sheet. It had your name on it. Since I never saw you before I just thought… am I wrong?" the boy asked her but she quickly shook her head and he looked so relieved. Jean and Kain both rolled their eyes at the kid.

"Winry, this is Vato Falman. He is a history geek with a near flawless memory which bridges on the edge of creepy and scary," Jean said, covering the introduction the boy failed to mention. Vato frowned at him, but he didn't look insulted. Winry smiled and the two new acquaintances shook hands.

"Near flawless memory?" Winry asked in surprise and Vato's ego seemed to inflate slightly.

"Yes, I am able to code and store memories pretty easily from my short term into my long term. Very useful unless there was something that I really didn't want to see-"

"Like when he walked in on his grandmother in the shower," Jean emphasised. Winry winced at the mere thought of that as Vato was sent shivering as the image was undoubtedly playing itself back in his head.

"Why do you have to bring that up, Havoc?" he complained nearly looking sick.

"It is a terrific story, why not?" the boy laughed as the boy continued to try and get a hold of himself. Winry didn't doubt that he could paint a picture with the image he was remembering. "Anyways, as we were saying his memory is only near flawless. He sometimes forgets really simple things all together, like which shampoo bottle was his."

"It's not my fault my sister puts her hair dye in her shampoo! It all would have been fine if she just used normal shampoo!" the kid complained as Jean and Kain were both sent howling at his expense. He obviously was being teased to the point of no revival with this incident. His hair was the brightest blue there could have possibly been. The shampoo did a good job on him, one that Winry wouldn't have guessed unless he went to a salon and got his hair bleached.

"I-It doesn't look bad," Winry said to try and cheer him up but that seemed to make it worse.

"Vato, at least you don't look like an old man anymore," Jean told him not making the situation any better. "He used to have a whole head of premature grey hair." The bell suddenly rang and Kain quickly logged off of the computer and grabbed his bags. With a shy smile to Winry he sped out of the door as fast as he could. Jean sighed and looked at his watch as if making sure he still had enough time to get to class. He gave Winry a little shove towards Vato as if to pick up what they came there to do.

"Vato, you have a free period, why don't you show Winry here around-"

"I have class-"

"Mr. Armstrong's art history class, which is exactly why you are not going, unless that is you want to be drowned by senseless emotion," he pointed out.

"I have a free period I could give you a tour. I am sure he wouldn't miss you on the first day," Vato offered. Winry frowned at the thought of missing her first class of the year. It wasn't good to skip out especially if it was your first day. However, art history was never something she wanted to endure. She nodded her head and accepted the offer.

"Very well then, I am off to Calculus, yay me," Jean said with an overwhelming amount of sarcasm. "You two have fun."

"Very well then Ms. Rockbell, should we head out?"

…..

"The Science building has been around since the start of St. Flamels because as you might know this is a school that strongly believes in the practicality of science. It has seen many many renovations in its day and it is nearly state of the art. Some students from the University across the city even come here to use it sometimes for their basic lab studies. It is the only building on campus that is open 24/7 because of the projects that are set up here sometimes can become time sensitive," Vato said completely off the top of his head as if it was normal to know the complete history of the school. They stopped outside of few select rooms and peered in to see some classes being conducted. Vato pointed out the computer lab which all had newly fitted macs for design and blueprints. Right next door was the school's own radio station set up with the works.

"The school's station spreads across nearly half of the city and is frequently tuned into by not just students but other civilians for news reports that our journaling club write and review. Most of the clubs that are set up are made to give students leadership positions and build up their resumes for college and even future careers. Fuery spends most of his time in here. He is the head of technology in nearly all of the school clubs. He goes around and fixes theatre lights and computers which saves the school money in maintenance. He also has his own radio broadcast every evening."

"I thought he… had problem talking. He can't speak to me at all-"

"Directly. He is perfectly comfortable talking from across the line to amazing numbers of people. Fuery has selective mutism which is one of the reasons I met him in the first place. My parents are psychologists who tried to help him over his social anxiety in fourth grade. It helped for the most part but like everyone he still has trouble," Vato told her as if telling another person's life story was alright. "Don't worry though. Once he warms up to you he would be able to talk normally. I would give it about a week."

"A week?" she mumbled to herself as she thought about having to last that long with barely a sentence coming from the kid. Kain seemed like a really nice guy, all of them did, and especially since he was interested in technology she really wanted to see what type of work he was doing. She wasn't much into computer sciences, much more gears, engines, and automail, but it still interested her a lot. She would just have to be patient.

Vato lead them through the building from the tech and computer labs to the physics and anatomy class rooms. They each had a full lab connected to them where Winry saw some of the students dissecting cats as their projects. She felt herself grow slightly sick and realising that after seeing that she would probably never want a kitten ever again. Vato talked and talked about all of the history of just this building alone. It was a little overwhelming and only half of it got through to her as she was more focused on seeing other students work. They wound their way up to the third floor which was solely made for chemistry. It didn't look like anyone was in the classrooms but Vato continued their tour none the less.

"Our chem labs are fully stocked and our glassware is kept completely clean and in mint condition. Those who don't take care of the equipment don't work in the labs. As I said before many universities use our labs which is why we try to keep them as up to date as possible. Some of St. Flamel's own students are already studying college level sciences and performing their own research projects. Projects are able to be proposed to the school board and given small fundings for materials, though anything substantial must come out of pocket or elsewhere. Many scientific breakthroughs have happened in these labs alone," Vato informed her as they passed one of the lab doors whose light was strangely on. They didn't get a step closer when they heard a loud string of curses fly out of it. Winry was slightly frightened at the brashness and she heard Vato mumble a subtle 'oh no' under his breath as it seemed he was preparing for the worse. The Lab's double doors burst open and crashed into the walls they were connected to as a flash of gold, black, and pink sped through them.

"That bastard!" the boy shouted as he flung the piece of pink fabric he held in his hands at Vato, the closest person he could find. His golden eyes burned with absolute rage and Winry took a step back from him as he walked over to them. His fist was crumbled over a page of notebook paper which seemed to have some sort of note scrawled across it. "Where is he? Vato, where is Kimblee?" he growled as if he couldn't even try to hold in his own frustration. Vato was fumbling over the large piece of fabric which now appeared to be a lab coat stained the wrong colour.

"Tucker, calm down I am sure that whatever he did-"

"He stole it. He stole Maus, Vato!" he seethed as he unballed the piece of paper and shoved it into his face. Winry heard another 'oh dear' come from him as he handed the note over to her to at least somewhat free his hands. Winry couldn't help but glance down and see the horribly written note on it.

 _Tucker, borrowing Maus. I am sorry about your lab coat. It was my turn to wash them and it accidentally got mixed with the reds._

 _-Zwolf Kimblee_

The boy grabbed Vato by the shirt and glared at him like he wanted to punch him. Other than being slightly startled, Vato was acting like this was completely normal.

"Where is he, Vato, you would know." The kid started to stumble over his words as if he didn't want to tell him. Winry could tell that he knew, but he didn't want to say anything in fear of starting a fight.

"Hey!" Winry shouted out at the new kid as she quickly shoved him off of her tour guide. The golden boy looked absolutely surprised as if he didn't even realise she was there. Winry grabbed the lab coat from where it was tangled around Vato and threw it back at him. "Back off. You can't just go around throwing things at people!"

"Who are you?" the boy growled, a little less sinister than before. Winry glared him down as if threatening him to do anything.

"Winry Rockbell. What is it to you beet face?" she insulted as his face was even more red than Kain's got when they were in a room together. He opened his mouth as if to make a retort but closed it as he was completely speechless. He cursed to himself and tore his eyes away from her.

"I don't have time for this," he mumbled as he quickly pushed past them. Winry stared as she watched the boy storm down the hall and disappear into the stairwell. She huffed to herself and crossed her arms as she regarded the encounter.

"What a jerk," she grumbled but was taken back as she heard Vato chuckle lightly as if this was normal.

"Yeah, that's Tucker for you," he said softly as he straightened out his wrinkled shirt. "He doesn't give very good first impressions-"

"Very good? He was threatening you-"

"Not really, he was just upset," Vato corrected her. "Kimblee has been at his throat ever since they started sharing lab space together."

"It still doesn't mean he has to be so violent," Winry grumbled but Vato just shrugged.

"He normally isn't," he mumbled. He started to lead them back down the hall where they were headed before the whole fiasco took place. Winry was still rather ruffled from the experience of meeting the golden eyed boy. The fury in his eyes was pure and it scared her. She wondered just what limits this boy would break to speak his mind to whoever did this to him. With such a demeanor coming from him, she wondered how Vato could even talk to him as a friend. She hoped at least that she wouldn't have to meet him again any time soon.

…

Winry sat outside of the Deans office among a long line of other students listening to people yell at eachother from the other side of the door. She couldn't make odds or ends of what they were saying but it definitely made her quite nervous for when the time came that she would have to go in there as well. She knew that she wasn't in trouble at all, since she was only there to pick up a new attendance sheet for Mr. Grumann because her name wasn't on his, but she still didn't want to be there even for that. Now she was listening to a highly heated argument on the other side not knowing when they would be finished. Staying down at the Dean's office for her entire Calculus period definitely wasn't her first choice to make.

Suddenly the door to the office burst open making her jump a little in her seat. The argument did not cease as it was carried out with them into the hallway. Mr. Raven, the Dean of Students who she recognised from her introduction to the school on several occasions stormed out, his face ridden with disappointment.

"Take a seat, Mr. Tucker. We will discuss the details of your fight when your father gets here in a few minutes-"

"No! Please, I need to be able to play in the football game this weekend. My father-"

"Maybe if you kept your grades up where they should be and didn't break Mr. Kimblee's nose this would be an easier discussion. Now please take a seat Mr. Tucker!" Mr. Raven scolded the boy. Winry felt her stomach drop as the kid she recognised from earlier who was still holding the pink lab coat in his arms. He growled to himself and collapsed in the closest chair which ended up being right next to her. She felt her face heat up as she turned away from him, hoping not to make any eye contact at all however she couldn't help but look at him. She never saw any guy keep their hair that long, though she had to admit it was probably quite common amongst the football jocks that she had seen around the other high schools. He had several small scars on his face which would be near invisible to anyone if they weren't sitting as close to him as she was. She guessed that he probably got into fights alot. It frightened her to hear that just a little after she saw him he went and broke a kid's nose for stealing something from him. Hopefully he wouldn't remember her or else she might just end up the same.

"What are you looking at?" she heard him grumbled to her.

"A thick headed football jock," she mumbled under her breath.

"How would you know- oh god not you," he started to retort when his golden eyes caught onto hers. A Flash of recognition went through them and then regret as he quickly moaned and turned away from her.

"Yes, me," Winry huffed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her bitterly.

"Definitely not getting my ass chewed out for breaking some kid's nose-"

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" Edward scolded her harshly. Winry didn't flinch as he glared at her. He was more upset than angry. She didn't know why she was pushing his buttons but she couldn't help it though. He turned away from her and looked down at his hands. He was clasping something grey in his gloved hands and it took a while for Winry to notice it was moving. It was a grey furred lab rat. She was rather surprised as that was the last thing she expected to see. The boy started to pet the rat behind the ears and it sniffed at him curiously. He looked nervous as he held it. He was constantly looking down the hall as if he was afraid someone would catch him with it.

"Why do you-" Winry started but he quickly glared at her as if threatening her to shut up. Winry bit her lip but glared menacingly back at him not letting him get the upper hand. "Why do you have it?" she whispered when suddenly voices started to come down the hallway. One of them was familiarly Mr. Raven but the other was someone else Winry did not know. However, Edward must have. He frowned and quickly stuffed the rat gently into the pink lab coat's pocket. He gently pushed it to her.

"Take it-" he said quickly and Winry was very taken back by his quick order.

"What!" she exclaimed but he just continued to push it towards her not giving her any other choice.

"Take it, please. Just put him back in his cage in Lab no. 5. I can't let Tucker catch him. I am in enough trouble as it is-"

"Why would-"

"Please, just take him," the boy ordered her again, softly this time. Winry latched weakly onto the coat, very stunned as the two people rounded the corner into their corridor. Mr. Raven was talking to a rather ragged looking man with glasses. Though Mr. Raven was talking avidly to the man, the new comer was just glaring deathly to Edward. He seemed to draw back under the man's stare as if he knew what was coming.

"And that, Mr. Tucker, is why we are not going to be allowing your son Edward on the next few Football meets. We are even considering withdrawing his research from our laboratories-"

"Research?" the man asked surprise like he wasn't expecting it. Mr. Raven nodded his head and Winry wouldn't have guessed it but the glare got even worse. "Edward, get in the office. What did I tell you before?" the man started to snipe and Edward got out of his seat just to get a rough slap on the back of the head. The boy rubbed his new ache but looked back at Winry as if to make sure that his rat was alright. He was shoved into the office by his father before the arguing picked up, nearly twice as loud as before. Mr. Raven, who was going to follow in behind them stopped for a second and looked down at Winry as if surprised she was there. Winry was afraid for a second that he would have wondered why she was holding the boy's lab coat but it seemed he thought nothing of it.

"Ms. Rockbell, what are you waiting here for? Don't you have class?" he asked gently as if he was genuinely concerned.

"Y-yes but Mr. Grumman sent me to pick up a revised attendance sheet. M-My name wasn't on it-"

"Oh, that man," Mr. Raven chuckled loudly. "He is able to just print one off himself. He probably was trying to get you to skip class-"

"H-he what?!" Winry exclaimed.

"He's always doing this. There is no penalty for skipping class just as long as you keep your grades up. I think he probably has high hopes for you. Your transcripts were phenomenal in math and coming from the famous Rockbell household I expect you do a lot of it in your work," Mr. Raven informed her with a smile. Winry felt herself unable to speak and as she was completely turned around. She sat there for no reason at all, the entire class period. Mr. Raven waved to her and wished her luck before closing the door to the office where the Tuckers were still yelling at each other. With Mr. Raven's voice now in the screaming mix Winry could barely tolerate the volume. She looked down at the lab coat she was holding. She could feel the rat buried comfortably beneath the fabric. She groaned to herself as she got up out of her chair and started down the hallway. How did she get wound up in this mess?

On the boarderline of sprinting, Winry ran to the science building at a pace that just barely could get her caught by a teacher for speeding. Though the bell didn't ring yet for the end of calculus it wa nearing the end and she didn't want to miss her next class. For her first day she already missed two of them. She tiredly climbed all the way up to the third floor of the science building and skipped her way down to lab number five where she remembered the boy storming out of that morning. It seemed so long ago but fresh in her mind. She opened the door and turned on the lights.

Though Vato gave her a very good tour, because of the chaos that happened that morning she never actually got to see the inside of the lab. There was a small lecture space on the side of the room where they probably got an overview of experiments for their lab portion of the classes and then the rest of the room was filled with various lab benches with sinks and safety equipment. Cupboards were labeled for various materials and it seemed all of the glassware was sparkling out to dry or stored underneath the benches. Special machines Winry wouldn't not be able to guess the names to were placed in select spots of the room where she guessed other people were performing their own experiments. Vato did say that the university was linked with their science buildings on occasion and that some students were starting on their college work early.

Winry found the cage on the side of the room on top of some black countertop space. It was neatly tucked out of the way and all of the boy's research materials were neatly stored next to it in a small rack. There was a small clipboard on the cage and Winry curiously picked it up to look at it. It was a logg for when the rat was taken out off the cage and what was done to it. Most of it was said for feeding or cleaning which was really not unusual at all, at least not what she expected for lab rat.

"Maus?" Winry muttered as she looked at the name at the top of the page, right next to the owner's signature which was all but an inconceivable scribble. She looked back down at the coat in her hand and unbundled it where the lab was safely snuggled. Its grey head poked out of the mess curiously as it sniffed around for the new stranger that was holding it. "That's a little redundant."

Winry sighed as she opened the door to the cage and carefully pulled the grey rat out of the pocket of the labcoat. It squirmed as if it didn't know it was being handled and Winry quickly set it down in its cage where it sat and sniffed around in the familiar environment. She closed it up and Winry folded up the lab coat and draped it over her arm to hang back up on her way out. To say she liked rats was an extreme overstatement, but if she hated them she wouldn't have brought this one back to its home.

She remembered what Edward was raging about when he left the lab. Apparently the boy name Kimblee stole Maus, though at that time she didn't know it was a pet rat. Did the Tucker boy really break the kid's nose because he stole his rat? Winry remembered when she was little and a neighborhood bully stole the stray baby kitten she was looking after in the abandoned barn down the road from her house. She was terrified that the boy was going to hurt it but when she ran home crying Granny Pinako told her to stop crying and stick it to him. Winry could have laughed as she remembered how her Granny sent a little six year old out armed with a small wrench to fight for her cat back. She never actually hurt anyone, but she was able to get the little cat back safe and sound. She felt her heart drop a little as she reminisced about her grandmother. Winry sucked in a huge breath and let it out slowly as she walked back towards the door and dropped the ugly pink lab coat on the coat rack. She had to get through this, she knew it. Like Granny had told her back then, don't cry if you're still able to fight to be happy.

….

The bell rang for lunch and Winry blindly followed the crowd to the dining hall which was across campus. It was crammed pack with students and Winry was having trouble fighting through everyone to find a place to sit.

"Hey! Winry!" She heard someone call out to her. She looked over her shoulder to see Jean pushing through the crowd towards her. He was holding his own lunch which seemed to be packed from home in a paper bag. "Hey why don't you come sit with us? We usually get a table over in the corner over there-"

"Sure, thank-you!" Winry yelled back at him and the obnoxious amount of conversations around the hall was deafening. He smiled and lead her over towards a good sized circular table with ratty wooden chairs around it. Though the labs were up to date it didn't seem the dining hall was. She took one of the empty chairs between Kain and Vato who were already sitting down enjoying their meal. They seemed to be having a rather indulging conversation but of course Kain cut himself off as he saw her. She felt slightly bad for having this effect on the boy but she hoped that he would get used to her soon like Vato said.

"So, Ms. Rockbell, how were your classes so far?" Vato said as she started to dig into her sandwich that she got from the schools deli.

"Considering I barely went to any of them I think okay?" she answered truthfully.

"Let me guess, Mr. Grumman got to you," Jean smiled weakly. Winry furiously nodded her head.

"I ended up sitting outside of the office for the whole day because I didn't know what he meant," Winry told them. "It was a waste of time-"

"N-n-next t-t-time," Kain stumbled and everyone else nodded their heads.

"Yes, next time you could probably use your time more effectively. Homework is always a good thing to catch up on when Mr. Grumman does this or even during your free periods," Vato elaborate.

"So Mr. Grumman really does dismiss people early for class a lot," Winry questionably stated.

"Only his Calculus class. He combines calculus in with precalc so the entire year is kind of just review," Jean told her. "Some people don't show up except for tests."

"You nerds talking about crazy old Grumman again?" a new voice striked up behind her. Winry turned around to see a super happy dark skinned girl holding her own lunch. She plopped down in the seat next to Vato and kicked her feet up on the table.

"H-h-hey P-p-panin-nya," Kain said happily, his lip quivering slightly with his anxiety.

"Hey, Kain, what's got you all locked up?" Paninya asked finally looking around the table to see who exactly she was sitting with. Her eyes fell on Winry and a knowing look fluttered through her eyes. "Oh, I see, you must be that Rockbell chick I have been hearing so much about. You know it took him a whole three month to warm up to me? I think that was because the first time we met was when he got stuffed in my locker in the women's locker room. Let's just say I opened it right after a shower from track practice and was in for a big surprise," she chuckled with a wink. Winry glanced over to Kain who was completely beat red. All attempts for conversation from him were shut down.

"I… didn't think that there would be bullies in this school…," Winry muttered but then again she remembered that blond haired Tucker fellow she ran into twice that day. He didn't seem the most friendly person at all and even punched a kid's nose in. However she never expected Kain to be on the bad end of everything.

"Well, there are a few but Edward does a nice job of keeping them in check. I don't know why he does it but I guess he can't help himself," Paninya told her. "Speaking of which," she started as she began to root through her bag. She pulled out a small plastic bottle and threw it at Jean who clumsily caught it before it landed in his pudding cup. "With it being this cold out, I know that Tucker would be hurting a bit so I brought him some pain medication for him to take."

"T-tucker? Edward Tucker?" Winry stumbled as she realised just who she was talking about. The girl nodded her head.

"Yeah… wait… oh no… bad first impression I am guessing?" she smiled knowingly.

"Yes, I was giving Ms. Rockbell a tour and Kimblee was messing with Maus again. It wasn't the most welcoming impression, I must say," Vato told her.

"Damn, well second impressions are always better with him."

"Well his second one wasn't the most charming appeal either," Winry muttered as she crossed her arms.

"You met him a second time? When?" Jean asked.

"When Grumman sent me to the office. He was there because he punched a guy's nose in. The Dean and his dad were going at it-"

"His dad?" they all asked her as if making sure they heard her clearly. She nodded her head.

"Yeah… the weird guy in glasses?"

"That's him… well, I bet he was taken home then if his father was there," Jean mumbled. "I will just put these in his locker then," he said shaking the small bottle of pills in his hand. "Sorry you had to have such a bad impression of him, Winry. Honestly, he isn't that bad." Winry shook her head not believing the kid one minute. There was nothing about Edward Tucker she had met yet that made her think he wasn't that bad. However, everyone here seemed to like him. She wondered how a kid like that could have friends like these.

"How did you all get to meet him?" Winry asked curiously. Everyone just smiled as if that was the biggest joke they have heard.

"Met at the mechanic's," Paninya said. "He was not happy at all to be seeing me in there but he was just buying some spare parts and couldn't find the right fit."

"Ran him over on my bicycle on the way to work," Jean added. "He dropped all of his groceries and made me run out to buy an inhaler before the pharmacy closed since biking was faster. Barely made it but he was so relieved when I did."

"He met Kain here because he stopped a few kids from stuffing him in the electrical closet. They had him tied up with extension cords to his chair. Only knew there was a problem because the radio broadcast wasn't on," Vato told her. "I met him because I am in the honor's society. He was there for a few years but took up football instead. He never seemed like a football player to me though."

"Wow… those are all very exciting," Winry mumbled and everyone just chuckled at her, even Kain.

"Yeah, but put yourself in our shoes, they still weren't the best impressions to get. I thought he was a hot headed idiot for the longest time," Paninya said. "I mean it is kind of true, but less so."

"Yeah, with him you just need to take your time," Jean stated.

"Maybe tomorrow you will have a better chance," Vato offered. Kain nodded his head in agreement as the bell rang for class.


	3. The Station

_**The Station**_

 **Summary:** _Edward and Alphonse are private investigators in a small business. Just out of college, they are struggling to get a start in life and prove themselves capable of something more than minor police jobs. The police department calls Edward in as a translator for a case where a Xingese girl was shot in the shoulder by a failed assasination plot. How far is he willing to go to solve this case?_

Edward and his mother were the only ones home when he was little as Hohenheim had taken Alphonse to his piano lessons one evening. An armed robber entered the house and Trisha was killed when she tried to protect her son at gunpoint. Unfortunately Edward was still injured in the fire fight, losing his leg. In his rush to escape and cover evidence, the robber set the home on fire. Hohenheim and Alphonse returned home to see their house completely in flames. Hohenheim rushes in and grabs Edward, taking him to safety. Edward and Alphonse grew up under Hohenheim's strict care after that. Just wanting the best for them, Hohenheim forces his kids into stable careers such as law. Together they form their own company and work to help the people of Amestris.

Ling Yao is the owner of a Pharmaceuticals company. They research in making new medicines. Recently he was on the verge of creating a new and powerful cure worth millions. However competitors weren't too thrilled. The Yao family has been receiving death threats because of their success from their rival company Stone Works run by Father and his family (normal people not homunculi). They now want the research documents for themselves so that they can destroy the drug before it is made. They can't have Lings success cause their business to fail. Fearing for their lives, Ling and his coworkers Fu and Lanfan escape to Amestris to work in their other research facility out of reach of Stone Works. However the assassination attempts have begun and Lanfan in her attempt to protect Ling gets shot and loses her arm to the wound.

Distressed and not knowing where to go, Ling Yao and Mr Fu accept Edward's help and the Elrics take the case to bring down the corrupt corporation. They try to hid Ling and protect him from threats while they all go galavanting around to find lawful evidence to bring to court (documents such).

Edward goes to a local pharmacy to try and purchase Stone Works medication just to find that he was denied. He digs deeper on his own and pulls up the Stone Works selling history to find out that Stone Works is selling their medicine to only a select few people who then sell it on the streets for large sums of money. However they lack the physical evidence to go by. When Edward returns home he finds that Alphonse and Ling are missing. Edward calls Mustang as he is heading out to find them. He knew that the evidence pointed towards the warehouses where Stone Works stored their medication. It was the hub for the drug deals. Ling went to go check it out for themselves and Alphonse followed not wanting him to get caught in something that they weren't supposed to. Edward arrives to see that the Stone Works agents caught Ling and Alphonse and were taunting them before they appropriately 'disposed' of them. Edward causes a distraction and a fight ensues. However the police arrive and are able to take down the bad guys but not before Edward gets shot in the arm by a shot gun (don't ask me why everyone loses arms to guns in this story. This is how it is).

Edward's in the hospital with his arm amputated and Alphonse goes to court to testify against Stone Works. They win in the end. and everyone is happy. yay.

Things to include:

1) Winry works for Yao Corps in their biomechanics division. She is stationed over in amestris as they have better advancements in technology. Edward, by Lings suggestion, visits her and they become instant friends. She even gives him a tune up. Winry makes the prosthetic for Lanfan and also and arm for edward in the end of the story. She gets called in whenever they come back with scrapes and bruises.

2) Mai Chang is who originally alerted Edward to the limited access to Stone Works medication. She was caught trying to steal medicine from the Yao Corp building but was caught by the guards. Since it was a private matter things were settled between the Yaos and Mai. This is what lead Edward to go to the pharmacy to pretend to buy StoneWorks medication. The medicine Mai stole was for her sick friend Scar. Scar unfortunately is a criminal who angrilly attacked a Stone Works representative in Amestris, killed them, and fled. He attacked because he was angry that he couldn't get the medication to save his wife. However Scar is finally arrested but Edward goes to him for information on the Stone Works.

 _ **The Station**_

"Yeah, yeah, I know that the company is in deep bastard, tell me something I don't know!" the golden haired man scolded into his phone. He picked up his coffee from the counter and slapped his extra change into the near empty tip jar. He paused for a second as he looked at it and then reached into his pocket and dumped a few dollars into it as well, the waitress smiling at the sight of his generosity. Edward grinned back at her and grabbed his stuff to go all the while the man on the other line was screaming into his ear.

"I need you to get over here, shrimp and stop going on coffee runs or else I will fire your ass-"

"Oh wait, wait," Edward interrupted, fake shock sinking into his voice as if he had an epiphany, "you mean that a person like myself went down to the shop to buy an extra large frappuccino when he doesn't even drink this shit? Well then I guess I should just throw it out since it obviously isn't for you and since I hate the stuff." Edward clambered into his small rundown car and stuffed the nasty drink into his cup holder. He fumbled for the seat belt and heard the engine clank on with a terrible groan. The sarcasm in his voice could have killed and he heard the man growl in complete aggravation.

"Fine, bring the fucking coffee just get over here as fast as you can-"

"I am all the way across town, Mustang. You were the one who absolutely needed to get starbucks, which by the way is extremely expensive, when I could have run across the street and gotten you a freaking Dunkin. They are a couple dollars for something twice as big as this little shot of caffeine you got here."

"Just get over here, Edward. Someone's been fucking shot," the man scolded him, cutting their banter off short. Edward frowned as he heard the line cut off. He flipped his phone shut and tossed it into the empty passenger seat. Sometimes he hated work because that meant he had to deal with incidents like this. However it couldn't have come just in time. His company was going down the drain without any large cases to cover. Though they could get publicity with solving little theft cases, they don't really pay bills for a small Private Investigator. It's terrible, he gets paid off of people's misfortunes. It is with jobs where you try to help people where you figure out just how cruel the world can be. He sighed to himself and pulled out of his parking spot and headed down towards the police station.

….

Edward walked into the station with his jacket tucked over his arm and the cup of nasty coffee gripped in his hand. He waved to Sheska who was waiting at the desk for new visitors and she waved back rather flustered.

" ! You need to sign in-" she called out to him waving a pen and a clipboard from her position at her desk. He grumbled to himself and walked over laying an illegible signature on the paper. He was there often enough he would have thought that they wouldn't need his signature after two years.

"Sorry Sheska, I guess I forgot again," he mumbled.

"It's alright, Mr. Elric-"

"How many times must I tell you to call me Edward? You are five years older than me," he told her.

"But, Mr. Elric," she gasped as if he was asking her to do the impossible. "You were the one who got me this job I can't possibly!"

"Well, what was it you wanted to tell me then?" Edward asked half mindedly taking a sip from the Commander's coffee. He spat it out instantly as the taste hung on his tongue. He nearly forgot it wasn't his. If he went anywhere but starbucks he would have picked up a cup of tea for himself but coffee was just nasty. Sheska laughed at him a little bit before she glanced over her shoulder for a split moment.

"I wanted to warn you that the Commander is in a very… aggravated mood today. I think it has something to do with the shooting. Nothing can be made of it except what the witness and victims are saying," she told him softly.

"What are they saying?" he whispered back.

"I don't know. They are Xingese." Edward growled to himself hearing that. That bastard just called him in for a translation. Heymanns Breda was out on leave since his wife was having a baby. He was the usual man for the job when it came to cultural affairs but since he was out of the game this time they were left with him. He startled Sheska with a light curse as he tried to massage his annoyance away.

"Is everything alright?" she questioned.

"No no, everything is…." he started but then paused as he caught Sheska's lunch sitting out on the table. It was a ham sandwich with homemade boiled eggs on the side. Everyone in the station knew that Sheska had one quirk other than her amazing memory and that was the fact that she could never eat eggs without hot sauce. For a bland person her food always needed to be amazingly spicy in order for her to eat it. She argued that bland food made her stomach upset where in normal people it would have been quite the opposite. Edward's grin grew steadily on his face until it reached from one ear to the other.

"Sheska, did you bring your bottle of hot sauce with you again today?"

"Y-yes, but Mr. Elric it's ghost pepper sauce you couldn't-"

"You mind if I use it?" Edward asked and Sheska shrugged as she took it from her desk and put it up on the counter. Edward lifted the lid of Mustang's coffee and he poured some of it in Sheska gasped as she saw what he was doing.

"Mr. Elric-" she started but he just handed her the bottle back.

"Don't worry, Sheska, he had this coming," he smiled as he recapped the drink. "You will have my paycheck in order though once you get my hours? I have a meeting with my brother so I am going to have to dash really quick."

"Yes, this one will be under Communication aid right?" she asked and Edward nodded his head before heading down the hallway and rounding the corner towards the Commander's office. His smile however slowly faded as he prepared himself for the earfull he was sure to get. He and the Commander of the Central Police department have been at eachothers throats for a long time. It was common knowledge that private investigators were a big show up for the iron force of the police department. If one person could do it, why should ten? However, Mustang even admitted to himself a few years back that he needed him, no matter how young or fresh he was. Edward had started his career right out of college where he had gotten his degree for criminal justice. His father had argued that it was a safer career path than his overwhelming passion for chemistry and Edward had no room for argument. However, like anyone starting right out of college he felt the bills just as hard whether he had a law degree or not. That would explain the piece of shit car he drives.

Edward blindly opened the door to the man's office and walked in. Riza and Roy were arguing rather avidly to each other. Two other people were sitting in the corner of the office with rather bored and upset expressions on their faces. One of them was old and grey in a clean and crisp business suit while this other black haired kid around his age was just relaxing in a yellow sweatshirt. Edward wished he could have been doing that right now but he had work to do like normal so he was in his khakis and tie which seemed to be choking his neck right now as Mustang glared at him under Hawkeye's scoldings. Judging by the strangers' knack for squinty eyes Edward had to guess that these were the people he would be translating for.

"Elric, good job at finally making it," Mustang sniped as he approached the desk. Edward huffed under his breath as he gently set the coffee down on his desk and tossed his jacket in a nearby chair before plopping down in it.

"What's the situation here, Firelips," Edward asked which just ticked the man off even more. "Who's mustacheo and squinty boy over there?"

"Edward act your age for once, be professional or else I might have to ask Sheska to hold your check and we both know how bad that would be," the man said, knowing where to lay a kill shot any day. Edward crossed his arms defiantly and just glared at him.

"Well, your scoldings didn't get us any closer to solving this case now tell me the whole story," Edward ordered him.

"Those two gentlemen are friends and family of the victim, Lanfan Fu. She was walking into the Yao corp. building when she was shot in the shoulder from an unknown location," Hawkeye started, "It wasn't life threatening but the arm needed to be amputated-"

"Yao Corp.? You mean the major pharmaceutical research in Xing?" Edward asked in complete disbelief. "Are you trying to tell me that she was shot, and they dragged her all the way across the desert to the middle of bumfucking nowhere we call East City just to receive care?"

"No you idiot. She was shot here. They have a small insignificant research facility over here," Mustang retorted. "It is only for small research so it isn't very publicly known."

"Apparently reports have came in from the Xing government that they have been receiving death threats. They have dual citizenship for business reasons and decided to come here to find safety-" Hawkeye corrected him.

"But this lady was shot-"

"And the threats are now believed to be intent," she confirmed. "We need you to talk to them to see if they know who is behind this. The Xing government is very tight lipped in releasing their information to us and there are numerous possibilities on who the culprit could be. Yao corp is one of the most successful businesses it could be any of their competitors or even some radical trying to make a statement."

"Why don't we bring this to the CIA or military?"

"Because with their dual citizenship this will become an international matter between Amestris and Xing and we would likely get nothing done, Elric," Mustang told him. "Keeping it state and local level we would be able to investigate this faster and easier. Now get to work, Edward, and stop stalling."

"You do realise that calling me here as a translator is absolute bullshit because they have dual citizenship right?" Edward flatly stated. Mustang froze and looked at him straight in the eye, utterly confused.

"What?"

"Come on, basic Amestrian politics. To become a citizen they must pass a language exam. They need to at least speak the basics. To say that you didn't get a peep out of them is ridiculous," Edward told them. The man just looked at him blankly as he thought things over. Edward rolled his eyes and hopped out of his chair. He pulled a notepad out of his jacket and took the pencil he kept tucked behind his ear out. He walked over to where the two Xingese men were sitting and bowed a little to them. It was quickly returned by the older fellow who looked rather stunned and Edward took a seat next to the younger man.

"Ling Yao, Mr. Fu," Edward said addressing them in Xingese. "Why won't you talk to the police?"

"There is nothing we have to say," Fu replied tersely. Edward frowned and huffed something unintelligent under his breath. He wasn't a good negotiator he was only a translator and barely that. He hated talking to people when he didn't want to because they always made things difficult for no reason. In their company Alphonse was always the one who would talk to the clients and Edward usually did the research and paperwork. The one time he did talk to a client they stormed off angry and were never heard from again except from their completion next door.

"You do realise that we can't help you if you don't talk to us."

"We don't want to talk to you. There is nothing that you have the ability to help us with," the old man huffed at him.

"What do you need help with? I am kind of fuzzy on it because Firelips over there wasn't nice enough in an explanation and I tuned him out most of the time," he yawned at them which the old man took offense to.

"My granddaughter was shot you ignorant fool! Those bastards got her. We knew they would try something it was due time and they got her. I told her to protect the young lord and…" the old man stopped and Edward could see that he was terribly upset. If he wasn't such a prideful old man Edward could have guessed that he would be on the verge of tears by now.

"H-hey, Lan Fan will be alright, and I am not saying that just because I can. I really mean it." The old man didn't look satisfied and was actually a little distraught with him bringing up his granddaughter like that.

"How could a commoner like you possibly know of my daughter? How do you know for sure? You say this like you mean it but they are still empty words," the man yelled at him. The young man jabbed him in the ribs as if telling him to be quiet but the man crossed his arms in defiance to Edward.

"C-calm down there old man. I-I didn't mean anything by it. Honestly I am just telling you by experience," Edward told them his Xingese comin out a little flustered. When an emotional senile old man is yelling at you, it is pretty hard to reply without stuttering.

"What do you mean by experience?" Ling Yao asked cautiously.

"I…," Edward started but paused to try and gather himself.., "I lost my leg when I was six… I was shot in a burglary attempt and they had to amputate…. but look, I am standing. I got two good legs now. Lanfan will heal. I could even put a good word for her to get a prosthetic."

"You would do that?" Edward nodded his head in reply.

"Why not? There are plenty of good mechanics around. It might take a few months though. You can't get a prosthetic until they know you're fully healed. But once she does, I am sure she would be just fine."

"My company works on pharmaceuticals not biomechanics however we do have an engineer working in our Amestrian research and development labs. I think you might want to get into contact with her," the man said with a small smile on his squinty eyed face. Edward smirked at him slightly.

"I will make sure to do that after you tell me what the hell is going on with you and your company," Edward replied. The smile on the man's face was washed away with his stubborness and the old man seemed absolutely angered that he would ask the young aristocrat anymore questions. But Edward kept pushing. "You love your granddaughter a lot, more than anything else. Dont challenge me, I can tell. Yet you refuse to get her help from the police and bring these criminals to justice. You know who did this…. Dont you?"

The two foreigners seemed shocked that he had figured it out, their eyes wide in disbelief. The old man seemed to have been torn in two by the inner turmoil that it was building up inside of them. He knew it was the truth and he was defeated in trying to hide it. However he gathered up his pride and tried to regain the pure determination he held before hand.

"The police wont be able to help us," the old man gritted out again.

"If not them, then what about me?"

"You're with them, are you not?" The young man said but Edward shook his head with a small chuckle that dissettled the two travellers.

"Them? No. They don't want a fucking cripple in the police force. Couldn't get in if I tried. I just get my paycheck from them. I am a private investigator. I work with law on my own really, with my brother. If you needed a place to stay or-"

"No you are too young, inexperienced. You couldn't provide much help for the young Lord. It's nothing the likes of you would want to get tangled in," the man huffed under his mustache. Edward frowned and glared at the old man.

"I know I am young but I more than I seem. If you can't accept help you are just going to lose everything. You obviously aren't strong enough to do it yourself. You tried that. Your granddaughter got shot, she lost her arm, because you couldn't accept help. If you are planning on anyone else losing their limbs go right ahead-" Edward said knowing he would just make the man angry. Fu jumped up from his seat and seized a good chunk of Edwards collar before slamming him to the floor. It all happened so fast that Edward didn't have time to even protect himself from faceplanting into the clean and polished hard wood heard chairs crash as a scuffle started to set up but the room seemed to freeze in place, awaiting the other to make the first move. Edward groaned to himself as he got up and staggered a and Hawkeye were on alert, hands ready to pull their weapons if Mr. Fu didn't back off. However luckily they weren't drawn. The old man was just standing above him with his arms crossed and a angered glare pointed down at him.

"Those are some mighty fine skills but they aren't going to solve this case now are they?" Edward gritted as he tried to regain his breath from the ass kicking he just received. "It's either me, or the Police but you are going to need at least one of us to end this once and for all."

However, before the old man could yell at him again the young man simply cut him off.

"Alright."

"Young lord-" Old man Fu retorted but Ling shook his head not wanting to hear it.

"I said alright. If it will help Lanfan and help stop the threats I am willing to tell them everything.


	4. Welcome to Hell

_**Welcome to**_ __ _ **Hell**_

 **Summary:** _Roy Mustang just moved into the neighborhood into a house that has been abandoned for years. All he wanted was some peace and quiet after the war but that was the last thing he was going to get. After finding an unexpected roommate, Roy struggles to come to realise that not all haunted houses are scary. Inspired from an original cartoon short by Erica Waters with the same title._

 **Plot:** The large house at 310 East Street stood empty for years. Stories about the house and its hauntings spread around the town as the horrible death of its owner is written down in the town's urban legends. However Roy just moved into the neighborhood and didn't know that the house he bought came with the living stories. All he wants is some peace and quiet after the war and fixing the house up would give him something to distract himself with. A few days into his stay in his new house he starts to feel as if someone else is in there with him, like someone is following him. He starts to hear strange noises around the place and everyone tries to convince him that the place is haunted until one night he realises it is. On a stormy night Roy wakes up in the middle of the night to see that one of his lights is on in his study down the hall. He walks down and curiously opens the door to turn off the light when he hears curses and mumbling of someone else in there. At first he thinks it is a robber and gets ready to take him out but when he walks into the room all he finds is a young boy pacing the room in thought. Roy asks him what he is doing there and the boy looks up curiously as if he didn't realise the man came in. The person states that he lives there and they start to argue who really owns the house. It was when the person states his name that Roy realises he is dead. Stories have floated around the town about the previous owner of the house who died in a terrible fire. Edward is a ghost. When Roy realises this he is nearly scared shitless. He races from the room towards the door. Edward chases after him asking him what was wrong with him but Roy doesn't stop. He runs out of the house and spends the night over at his friend's house. Roy barely sleeps and upon the begging of his friend he returns to his house very on guard. He is paranoid and searches the house top to bottom but finds nothing. Roy keeps double checking the study room even though he starts to think that it was his imagination. When Roy sits down at his dining table the morning after for breakfast with some coffee he notices a cinnamon bun floating across the kitchen just to rest at the other end of the table. Roy get so scared he splashes his coffee at the invisible person who yelps in pain from being burned by the hot water. The ghost's full body appears and curses him as he tries to dry himself off. Edward asks him why he can't live there in peace anymore and Roy scolds him to get out of his house. He is jumpy and ready to bolt at any minute but Edward just glares at him and manages to make him stop. Roy exclaims that he is a ghost and Edward looks at himself like he nearly forgot. "Oh yeah," he mumbles. Roy calms down a bit enough to ask him how this is possible and Edward told him simply that he didn't want to die. Silence spreads between their conversation and neither of them knows what to do. Roy asks him and Edward shrugs his shoulders and answers that Roy still owns the house now since he is dead but that there was no way the man was going to make him move. "If you don't want me as your roommate, leave. And don't try to throw out any of my stuff". Roy and Ed struggle to live together and soon become great friends.

Edward and Alphonse Elric lived in 310 East Street for their entire lives. Their mother died at an early age from illnesss and their father was out working most of the time so it was practically just the two of them. However one evening a terrible fire started up and the two of them couldn't get out. Edward became trapped under a fallen support beam and even when the firefighters came, he couldn't be saved. Alphonse however was taken out of the house and to the nearest hospital with burns and smoke inhalation, but he lived. Edward became a ghost because he wanted to find his brother. He couldn't die peacefully without him. However he can not leave the house. He is in a sense bound there. But Roy, as unexpecting as he was, would be his answer to a peaceful rest.

Roy and Edward don't get a long at first but they slowly grow to know one another and live together. Edward helps Roy at night when he struggles with nightmares of the war and Roy helps Edward when he goes into tantrums of thinking about how he lost his brother.

One day Roy goes to the grocery store and runs into an old man he thought looked familiar. He helps the man with his groceries during which the man started to tell short little stories of his childhood (like old grandfathers do). Roy realises that it is Alphonse Elric and he tells him that he lives in the house that he used to. Alphonse tells him some short facts about the house like how he and Edward would ride the dumbwaiter when they were little. Roy chuckles as he comments that Edward still does that on occasion which startles Alphonse. Roy begins to carefully explain that Edward was a ghost in the house. Alphonse becomes offended that Roy would make fun of him like that and rides away.

Roy desperately searches out Alphonse for the next week trying to find him. He had told Edward about the encounter and the kid wouldn't let it go how he messed the whole thing up. Roy finds Alphonse in a small house on the edge of town. He tries hard to get the old man to talk to him but Alphonse wouldn't have it until Roy starts telling him some stuff Edward told him to try and get him to believe him. Alphonse listens and agrees to go back to the house to see his brother.

Alphonse cries upon seeing his brother and Edward the same. They talk for a short while in the kitchen as if everything were back to normal, Edward joking about how old Al got. However when it is time for Alphonse to go, he asks if he could see him tomorrow. Edward however says that he can not. Now that he found his brother he could finally leave knowing that he was alright. Roy is heart broken in hearing him say this as he realised that with the reunion of the brothers, he would then be losing his friend. Edward comforts him and tells him that he made it all possible and that he was the best friend he ever had (heartfelt shit). Eventually Edward just fades away as he goes to rest in peace.


	5. Hellhound

**Hellhound**

 **Summary:** _Based off of the AMV John the Hellhound by Silent Man. Edward, haunted by the death of Nina Tucker and Shou's last words to him, goes completely insane. Violent, tormented by his past failures Edward becomes the team's worst enemy. Roy tries to find out what happened to his subordinate before even more people are hurt._

Plot: The team knows something has changed about Edward but they couldn't put a finger on it. When Edward hurts Fuery they are forced to take action and Edward is restrained in a psychiatric ward for examination. The doctors imagine it to be an arisen Personality Disorder that was suppressed in his childhood though they couldn't be far from the truth. Alphonse is questioned about his brother's prior mental health but says that he never had any trouble before. Mood swings only started when they started going to Tucker's house.

After Edward cooled down Roy is able to see him. Edward begs him to tell what is going on but when he does he doesn't believe him. He doesn't remember what had happened when he 'blanked out' but doesn't imagine it to be that terrible. However Roy yells at him and makes him believe the truth, much to his dispair. Edward is horrified that he did that and asks if Fuery was going to be alright. Roy wonders the same about him.

When Edward is released from the hospital with some light mood stablizers, he is thought to be too dangerous to keep in his current work environment and the Fuhrer takes him under his wing. Edward is mentored by him and doesn't get to see his old team anymore.

Roy, wanting to get to the bottom of the situation, starts to search into Tucker's affairs. He finds that tucker ordered some biological agents from a specific company and had a strong wor relationship with a specific gold toothed scientist. Just as Roy started to get to the peak of the investigation though, murders and kidnappings started to arise. People began to go missing just for days later to show up as horribly mutilated corpses. Roy along with Hueghs tries to find who has been doing this. Following false leads they get nowhere until at one of the crime scenes Roy finds a small shred of red cloth. It's Edward's.

Roy's team, distressed with the idea that Edward was behind all of this, follows him in his daily activities but nothing seems to go awry. Everything is perfectly normal and Edward's mood doesn't seem any different. On a whim, Roy has Edward's coat piece examined in forensics and they find the mysterious biological agent on it. It turns out that the gold tooth doctor had given the biological agent to tucker to test on his chimeras and animals, but Shou started to use Edward as a subject instead. He would take Edward's coat whenever the boy entered his house to study and lace it with the biological agent. Edward was able to fight the affects at first, creating the mood swings, however the more the kid was influenced by the agent, the longer the black outs would happen. When he was taken under the Fuhrer's care, the man laced some of his medication with the agent and taught Edward to control his violence under his black outs so that when he was completely mad, he would still appear normal. They ussed this training to their advantage, the gold tooth doctor using edward's fighting skills and brilliant mind to help him with some experiments with the stone all while they kept him under the agent's affects.

Roy and the team struggle to catch Edward and get the coat off of him before he dies from the agent's poisoning and hurts others.

 _ **Hellhound**_

Chapter One

The First Attack

"How do you think he is taking it?" Havoc asked Hughes quietly as he laid a clean tarp over the bodies of the Tuckers, each of which were blown up from the inside. It was a technique that they knew the killer Scar used but no matter how many times they saw it, it was still another hell to clean up. Havoc shook his head in disgust. Little Nina Tucker… after the events that transpired in the Tucker household she wasn't even recognisable as human anymore and now with her corpse to just end up like this… It was a tragic series of events that should have never unfold.

"I am sure someone has already told him by now," Hughes muttered as he put his notepad away. Havoc nodded his head and stood up from where he was kneeling.

"A kid like him…" Havoc started but Hughes cut him off. He didn't need to say anymore. Edward had been so distressed about Nina's transmutation he hadn't been the same since. No one knew quite how to place the difference they felt in the kid but they all agreed that it wasn't good. Edward became withdrawn and rather forgetful, more than usual. From witnessing what he did Havoc really couldn't argue. He thought he just needed some time. But with the Tucker's now murder, he probably needed something a bit more than time to fix whatever was going on inside that head of his.

"It was his choice to join the military…"

"But you can say even this… this…," Havoc started to stumble not even having the words to describe it.

"Tough lives can change people," Maes sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I can't always say it's for the better." The investigation was over, all they needed was for someone to withdraw all of the bodies, of the Tuckers and the guards that they had posted outside. The two of them backed away from the mess and went out into the hallway where they could get some air. The room was starting to smell with the decay of the bodies and they were in there for long enough. They took a seat on a bench out in the hall and waited for the other people to come in and finish the work they were doing. Some other officers were filing down the hallway with gurnies for the bodies. It looked like they were going to be out of there sooner than they expected. Yet Jean still was able to slump in his seat and pull out a cigarette from his pocket. However before he could do anything with it a private came running over to them from the stairs.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes I have a message for you sir," the young soldier said at attention. Hughes stood up in sudden alert and Havoc copied.

"From who, what happened?"

"It's from Colonel Mustang, sir. Sergeant Fuery has been injured-"

"Injured?!" Havoc exclaimed. That was the last thing Havoc expected to hear. The Sergeant always was in the office if not his own dorm messing on some form of trinket or another. The only possible way he could have been hurt was if he fell down the stairs and that was nothing the Colonel would have sent a message about. Yet the private nodded his head in confirmation of the message he recieved.

"Yes, he was attacked sir-"

"By who?" Hughes asked. A slight fear built up in him. For some reason a name was itching the back of his mind.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist."

….

Edward stared up at the ceiling of the office and blocked out all of the sounds around him. He tuned out the Sergeant's tinkering, the Lieutenant's writing, and the ticking of the clock going by. Edward was sitting at the desk he barely ever used with his feet kicked up on it just thinking. Though it was a very dangerous thing to do in his state, Edward let his mind wander and boil over the news he had received that morning from Hawkeye. The Tucker's were dead. He felt his chest tighten at the thought of Nina's laughter that used to ring in his ears not a week ago. Who would have guessed that her life would be cut so short? Who would have guessed that the only picture Edward could remember was the horrific creature Shou Tucker had created from her. He could still feel the pain in her voice when she talked to him… it obviously hurt her to move. But now the pain was all over, permanently. Edward couldn't decide if that was better… or for the worse.

Alchemy did this to them. A science made to help people and it was able to turn an innocent girl into a chimera. It was all for the advancement of the human race, Shou said. It was just a leap he was willing to take, he said. But it was always the same result. It got them nowhere, absolutely nowhere and at the cost of a child's life. To take those leaps, to think it was alright to use such stakes, Edward didn't even know who could have thought that as being the slightest bit moral. He didn't understand. Yet he did.

Edward lifted up his automail arm until it gleamed hauntingly in the dim light that streamed through the window. Though it was raining a terrible storm outside, the light bounced off of its rusty metal build. He flexed his fingers and watched them as they struggled to move, the metal plates grinding against each other, long due for an oiling. Edward just stared at it for the longest time. Yes, he did understand Shou, more than anyone really. He played with Human lives before. He tried to create one of his own. It cost him… it cost him everything. An arm, a leg, his brother's body, Nina, lives came with sacrifices more than what they are worth. Even when they are so right it would work it would never be enough. If only they could have figured out what was wrong. If only they could have done it right. The world really might have been a better place with a few more people living in it. If they had done it right, they would have had their mother back. But they were thrown back into an empty world with even more empty and pointless lives. No matter what they did they could never fix what they did wrong nor could they accomplish what they wanted. All of their research was incomplete… all of it seemed to lead nowhere. Even when they had a sure lead it just was another dead end, setting them even farther back than they were before. No matter what they tried… they just couldn't move forward.

Edward heard the hysterical laughter of Shou Tucker in the back of his mind. Were they really that much alike? Edward wanted to believe that he would never stoop that low as to use a little girl like he did, to play with the lives of the innocent, but it seems he already had. Science was just built off of stupid dreams and only worked when people took stupid risks to accomplish them. But how big a risk would someone take if it was all just doomed to fail? How big must the leap be for them to actually succeed? They all just buzz around their lives ith pointless dreams that will never see the light of day. It seemed to him, humanity was just doomed to fail, doomed to fail. Edward's mind rotated around these thoughts for the longest time, his eyes latched onto the gleaming metal of his arm. The laughter of Shou nearly overwhelmed him as it consumed him. Were they really the same? Were they really doomed to fail? Edward felt suddenly dizzy as his mind went foggy. He couldn't make sense of anything anymore even though he knew he wasn't moving. He felt a tug in the back of the mind as he seemed to be detached from the world he was in. A darkness shrouded him as he slowly blacked out with the haunting voice of Shou in the back of his mind.

….

Hawkeye signed her name at the bottom of a couple of papers and set them off on the side of her desk in one of the piles that needed to go out of the office. Unlike the Colonel, whose paperwork was always building up to new heights, she liked to keep hers at a manageable level. Right now, the man under observation was out of the office getting some quick coffee and procrastinating like usual. It does not take fifteen minutes to go down the hall for a cup of joe. Fuery was still sitting at his own station trying to fix one of their broken radios. He had just gotten the parts in from supply and was excited to fix it. Fine tuning those radios was a hobby of his and Hawkeye could definitely say that their unit had the best out of the entire Command center, probably even the country for the make and model that they were issued. If they didn't have Fuery they would have been in the trenches with their technology. Hawkeye smiled a bit as she watched him. He was so young and doing such a good job. She could barely even remember what she did when she was his age. And then there was Edward.

Joining the military at age twelve definitely was a huge step that she wouldn't think anyone would be ready for, but he managed to do it. Though she knew that it was his decision to join, she couldn't help but question it. His intentions were pure, that was for sure, but it changes people. She already saw it with her own eyes. She saw people go insane in Ishval. She witnessed the Colonel himself grow a bit out of it when he became a mass murderer. But now she was seeing it in Edward.

It was in the eyes. When people change it can always be seen in the eyes. Edward's held a haunted look to them. It was a ghost she could always see in the boy. She guessed he got it when he tried to bring his mother back, but it was a demon he was able to overcome. He was trying to right it and correct it, he was battling it and winning even if their research showed otherwise. But now his eyes were haunted with it, flooded with something Hawkeye couldn't recognise other than insanity. It wasn't all the time she would see this, but when she did it scared her. Edward, after the Tucker incident, grew withdrawn. He dazed out and couldn't snap out of it. He became intermittently temperamental, completely out of character at some points. It was in those short moments that she saw this, a pure look of insanity in his eyes. It was just like the one she saw now as he just sat quietly at his desk and stared up at his arm for no apparent reason. Hawkeye was scared for him. She really was. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew that the Elrics had went through hell more times than one, and there was a limit to how much someone could take. She worried that Edward had reached his.

Everyone in the office had to agree that he had changed but no one knew what to do about it. They tried to get Alphonse to take him to a doctor but they knew it would never work. Edward was stubborn and he would never go no matter the reason. But Hawkeye just wished that Edward would realise that they were trying to help.

Edward wasn't moving from where he sat. He wasn't even twitching, barely breathing. Hawkeye had to assume that he had blanked out again and couldn't snap out of it. The last time he did this Breda needed to practically tackle him from where he froze in the middle of the hallway. She really didn't know what was going on with him but she needed to stop it from getting any worse. She needed to help any way that she could.

"Edward," she said softly as she hoped to wake him from his stupor. His brow furrowed slightly as it seemed he just concentrated harder on his hand than before. "Edward," she repeated but same result. Fuery heard her try to talk to him and he got up from where he was working and walked over to her. He looked at his friend with worry.

"Again?" he asked quietly as if he didn't want to admit to himself what he was seeing. Hawkeye nodded a confirmation as they watched the young boy stare stiffly at his hand. Fuery sighed, "Do you think he will be alright? Do you think he will... "

"Sergeant, some things you can't just snap out of," she told him. She tried calling to Edward several more times but the boy didn't respond. She was just about to reach out to shake him awake when a grin started to crawl across his face. It was sly, knowing, and almost mad, like a crooked line had carved its way there. Hawkeye froze in her place as she saw it and looked up to where Fuery was standing. He looked absolutely frightened from the sudden change in demeanor. A sudden laughter erupted out of Edward and bellowed around the room. It was hysterical, insane, and not like the boy at all.

They didn't know what to make of it. He was so completely out of character. The laughter rang of nothing but pure insanity, evil almost. Hawkeye took a few steps back as Edward lowered his arm back down to his lap and dropped his feet from the desk to the floor. He held a gleam in his eyes that Hawkeye knew they shouldn't cross.

"What a fool he was!" Edward exclaimed, his laughter dying down into a rather terrifying chuckle. He looked rather amused as if he couldn't contain his deranged joy. "What a fool! A failure like us all! HAHAHA!"

"Edward, Edward are you okay?" Fuery asked him worriedly. He was trembling slightly and Riza could tell that he was afraid. But Edward kept laughing until it seemed he could no more.

"I am nothing like him! That fool! Nothing like him!" he bellowed as he slowly stood up from his chair. Fuery didn't move.

"Sergeant, get away from him," Hawkeye said calmly trying not to alert Edward. She saw a rather ravage look in the kid's eyes, one she never saw there before. She didn't know what was happening and she didn't know what was going on with the boy but she felt her instincts scream at her not to go near him. Unfortunately as she learned many times in Ishval, her instincts were usually correct, but the fact that they were pointed towards Edward of all people frightened her. Fuery frowned and faltered to take a step back but Edward's hand shot out and suddenly latched around his throat. Fuery choked as he tried to pry Edward off of him but he was too strong.

"I am nothing like him," Edward hissed menacingly towards the Sergeant he held in his grasp. "Because unlike him, I will succeed."

Everything else happened in a flash. Edward threw the Sergeant against the wall behind him and pinned him there, his hand tightening around the boy's throat. Hawkeye ran forward and shoved Edward away with full force and he went tumbling to the ground. In an instant she felt her legs shoved out from underneath her as Edward deliberately tripped her. As she was falling he slammed his metal fist down on her face. Her back hit the ground and the wind was immediately knocked out of her. Before Hawkeye could even imagine to get up Edward quickly took out the Sergeant again who was still sputtering for air. He tackled Fuery to the ground and before the boy could try and get him off. Edward slapped his hands as hard as he could against the boy's ears. Fuery screamed as his eardrums ruptured and blood slowly started to pour out of them. A pleased grin crept over Edward's face at the mere sight of it all. He started to laugh again, a malicious look in his eyes at the sight of Fuery in pain. Hawkeye quickly stumbled up and ripped him off of the Sergeant who was left cradling his head in roaring pain. They tumbled for a bit until she managed to pin Edward to the ground, leaving her full body weight on the hysterical kid as Fuery crawled safely away.

"Go get help! Call someone!" Hawkeye ordered as him as she locked Edward's arms to the ground who was furiously trying to rip her hair out. However her commands were in vain as Fuery gripped his ears unable to hear anything. Edward had deafened him with the blow to his head and he was looking rather pleased of himself. Hawkeye growled to herself as she slammed her head down into Edward's chest, knocking the air out of him. As he was stunned and his laughing faltered, she nailed the kid in the jaw with her fist. She quickly shoved herself off of him and grabbed Fuery around the waist and hauled him to the door of their office. She opened it and flung him outside just as Edward was staggering to his feet.

"Call for help!" she commanded the boy again as she saw him looking at her. Fuery seemed to get the message as he tripped over himself sprinting down the hallway. He undoubtedly went to get the Colonel. Hawkeye felt a hand grab her hair and yank her back into the office.

"Why did you let him leave?" Edward hissed to her, almost unrecognizable as human speech. Hawkeye sent her elbow back into his face and he let go of her, giving her enough time to get some distance from him.

"Edward, you need to snap out of it," she stiffly scolded him. He was still gripping his face, still hurting from where she elbowed him.

"Snap out of what? I feel great, more than that," Edward smirked, anger growing in his eyes. "I feel alive." Edward was just about to clap his hands together when the door to the office flung open and Riza heard a snap. A small sizzle of flames picked up and there was a controlled explosion catching Edward's right automail arm. He was flung backwards from the force and hit the wall behind him.

"Lieutenant, what happened here?" the Colonel asked as he stepped all of the way into the room. He was tightening his gloves onto his hand as if preparing for another blow. Those gloves were a weapon of destruction. They took countless lives in Ishval with just a twitch of the fingers. Riza saw the power that they held, for the Colonel to use them on his subordinate, she knew that he was fearing the worse. Though he held back and hit only the boy's metal arm, it produced enough force to seemingly knock him out. The boy was slumped against the wall, lying motionless where he fell.

"I don't know, sir. Edward looked like he blanked out again but… he became violent," she told him as she inched near where Edward was lying. "He attacked Fuery."

"I noticed," the Colonel muttered, his eyes not leaving Edward for a minute. Though his face was a stone she saw what seemed to be betrayal in his eyes. He was hurt. "I sent a Private to call the nearest Hospital they are sending some people as fast as they can. Be careful Lieutenant," he said as she cautiously kneeled down next to the boy to make sure he was alright. His breathing was shallow and even as if he was just asleep. Hawkeye almost believed he was too if it weren't for the scorch marks up and around his arm where the Colonel strikes him.

"What are we going to do with him?" She asked quietly. The Colonel just frowned and looked away for a moment.

"That's who the hospital is coming for."

"Sir?"

"We have pushed this off for too long. We knew something was wrong with h, we knew he needed help yet we did nothing," he answered, his voice full of regret. Riza only heard his voice shake like this a couple times even though he was trying his hardest to keep his composure. His subordinate was hurt and he had to use his alchemy, a weapon of destruction, against his other. Riza knew that the only thing he could feel right now was regret and hurt.

"We need to get him looked over by professionals, maybe we might get answers as to what the hell is happening to my subordinate." The Colonel bent down next to the unconscious child before them. His eyes scanned over the short boy from his golden locks all the way to his metal arm. Riza noticed that his eyes lingered there on the child's automail for a little longer, examining the scorch marks he had put there, but she didn't say anything.

"Lieutenant-"

"Yes sir?"

"Contact Alphonse Elric. We need to question him about his brother. He might know something… anything as to what the fuck is going on," the Colonel ordered stiffly just as a few medics and MPs were rolling in with a gurney in tow. The two officers quickly stepped out of the way as they gave room for the medics to do what they came here for. They crowded around the young Elric and Riza felt herself grow anxious as she watched them handle him. She was halfway afraid that Edward would wake up and start this whole incident all over again, but her other half was afraid that the medics would actually hurt him in their care. She knew how much Edward hated hospitals.

The medics carefully picked the young yet heavy boy up from the floor and laid him on the gurney for transport. They laid an unnecessary amount of straps around him to keep him down as if they too were afraid the boy would lash out again if he ever came too. As soon as they came in they were gone and the young troubled boy was out of sight, leaving the room that much emptier.


	6. Behind the Name

_**Behind the Name**_

 _ **Summary:**_ _Edward didn't like Roy Mustang the instant he set eyes on him on the Express. He was arrogant, pompous, and had a_ two dimensional _smirk on his face that any smart person could see through. However, he quickly learned how stupid so many people could be._

Plot: Edward and Alphonse are both muggle born students who got into a terrible accident entailing a failed killing curse when they were 8 (and 7) years old. Edward tried to block the hit from Alphonse (not knowing what it was at the time because they didn't know magic) but it seemed to pass right through him and into his brother. Edward ended up losing his arm and leg from part of the curse he absorbed and Alphonse is slowly dying as the effect of the spell was somehow delayed. Literally trying to find a cure for death, Edward and Alphonse go to Hogwarts to try and stop the curse that will eventually take Alphonse's life.

Edward was tormented by the group of slytherins (homunculi as characters but not homunculi just wizards/witches) who are muggle haters. They saw his limbs and immediately started to attack him as different (because they're muggle machines). Edward over the few years of school learned to stay away from all slytherins and hate them as they literally made his life a living hell. However, a new kid comes to school and this is where the story starts.

Roy Mustang is a transfer student from the wizarding school in Japan. Everyone immediately likes him as he is a smooth talker and good at charms and quidditch. Roy, desperate to fit in because at his last school he secretly had no friends, tries to roll with the crowd and becomes very popular. Unfortunately he catches the eye of the hommunculi. Roy knows they aren't the nicest group of people but he still talks to them on occasion. In order to fit in with even the muggle hating slytherins he hides the fact that he is too a muggle-born student. They tell him a little bit about Elric (not too much just that they hate him), most of which is lies but it peaks his curiosity. Though he and Edward grew to despise each other in every class they are together, they can't hide the fact that at their core they are truly intrigued by each other's presence though slightly infuriated.

Through out the year Mustang get's Edward in trouble and vise versa as they just try and one up each other in class, rubbing each other's grades in each other's faces and beating the shit out of each other in quidditch (quite literally there is a fight scene). However the more they learn about each other the more they come to terms that they aren't so different after all. This takes place through certain scenes a few described below as the following.

1\. Edward is in the library trying to research dark magic from the restricted section for the sake of his brother when suddenly he hears a loud crowd making their way through the library shelves. Edward is really pissed at the chattering as he can't study and after a while he forces himself to get up and find the source of the noise. It is Roy Mustang and a crowd of other students swarming him. He has his books and bag to study but seems to be engaged in conversation. Edward yells at them to shut up and shove off and the students, not liking his rude attitude, walk away leaving Roy Mustang at the table by himself. Edward huffs at him, mumbles an insult under his breath and makes his way back to his own table. Unfortunately, a few minutes later Roy joins him and thanks him for telling them away. He says that sometimes it is hard to get some peace and quiet especially to study. Roy questions what he is reading as he is doing transfigurations work. Edward becomes defensive not willing to say why he was studying dark magic (alchemy). Roy backs off and they fall into a silent study. Edward lightens up a little bit on Roy though as they just study silently by themselves, Roy for once respecting his space. However, later when Edward picked up work for his transfigurations paper (as a slight suggestion by Roy since it was due the next week) Envy comes in to see Mustang. They talk and Envy manages to convince Roy to stop his school work and go somewhere. As Roy puts his stuff away and is ready to leave Envy sneakily tips Edward's ink well over and it stains his parchment and all of his transfigurations report making him have to start all over. Roy loos apologetically to him but he still walks off with envy ignoring any offer to help him.

2\. Roy is sitting in potions class waiting for his lab partner (Edward) to show up. unfortunately he never comes. Roy looks around for some help and Izumi ends up pairing him with another couple of students, one being a hufflepuff Maes Hughes. Maes tells him that sometimes Alphonse got really sick and Edward would spend the time in the Hospital ward with him. Roy thought this was odd since usually the nurse chased out any straggling student. However he thought nothing else of it as he focused on potions work and also becoming friends with Maes. When the bell rings Izumi catches Roy before he leaves and makes him take some notes and papers to Edward, as well as a study hall slip to him so that he can catch up on class. Roy wants to complain but she says it is his job as his lab partner to keep him up on his work. Roy makes his way to the hospital ward and is shocked to see Edward sitting at the bedside of his younger brother, worried and scared. Alphonse almost looks dead as he seems to be barely breathing in a near comatosed state. Roy offers Edward his work and you gryffindor, upset that Roy saw him in such a state of distress, tries to chase him out. Roy gently sets the papers down and offers a few hopeful words before leaving Edward in peace. He returns after each class to give Edward his work and since they learned flower conjuring in charms he offers the ones he conjured in class for Alphonse. Edward comments that he isn't dead yet, which utterly confuses Roy but he leaves understanding Edward's coldness just a little better.

3\. Edward walks out of the great hall late after brunch on saturday and sees Roy standing in the entranceway with an owl and a package. He thought it odd that the kid wasn't showing everyone that he got like most kids his age did. However when Edward walked by he caught a glimpse of something that looked like a walkman/tiny radio thing, a common muggle item. Roy, catching his wandering gaze, tries to hide it but Edward already knew what it was. As Roy tries to walk away with it, yelling at Edward defensively, Edward offers to help charm it, stopping roy in his tracks. He states that since muggle electronics don't work inside hogwarts he could see if Winry could charm it like she does everything else so that he can use it. He obviously likes it and Edward just thought he might want to use it instead of it being a paper weight. Roy accepts and they then part ways. Edward didn't have to ask to know that Roy was not a pureblood like he thought. He figured it out on his own.

4\. After a really hard quidditch match where Edward (a beater) gets hit off his broom by a bludger, his automail is dented and needs maintenance. He goes to Winry for some help and she tries to scrounge up material. Roy becomes suspicious however when Edward shows up to class with his arm in a sling as he knows there is magic that would fix the injury instantly. Edward is able to avoid all questions though. In the abandoned girls bathroom Edward lets winry work on his arm and he sits there idly waiting for her to finish up. Having left a bolt in her dorm she runs back to quickly get it, leaving Edward there by himself with a dismantled arm. Not thinking that anyone would walk in Edward relaxes tiredly. When he hears the door open, Edward thinks that it is Winry and starts to question how she got there so fast until he notices that it isn't her. It is Roy. Roy had walked in to try and find some peace and quiet from social life. He had been hiding in there a few times over the school year for that reason. They are absolutely shocked and just stare at each other not knowing what to say. Edward tries to chase him out but Roy is absolutely frozen in his place as he can't tear his eyes off of Edward's missing arm. AFter regaining his senses Roy demands to stay and Edward is unable to make him leave. He ends up talking, very little, about his arm and admits that his leg is the same. He thinks Roy is going to be like the homunculi and make fun of him for it but Roy doesn't. He just says that its just something about him. It doesn't mean anything. Edward smiles and they sit there quietly until Winry returns.

5\. Roy struggles with potions and Edward, not wanting his own grade to fall in the practical, offers to teach him. They meet together in the library and Edward teaches him potions while Roy teaches Edward charms. They form better bonds through this. Both Edward and Roy here start to realise they are attracted to each other but too scared or unsure and nothing happens. Isn't too strong but strong enough.

6\. Alphonse misses christmas because he becomes 'sick' again and Roy offers to try and cheer Edward up by taking him to Hogsmede to get some butter beer (not with out a little fight) They have a good time and feelings start to emerge here kiss almost happens but doesn't. They take back a small case of butter beer for Alphonse when he eventually wakes up which isn't until two days later. After this moment they start to spend more time with each other.

6\. As Roy becomes better aquaintences with Edward the Homunculi become worse. Roy notices Edward walking into class with a black eye or torn up papers. Roy asks him about it but Edward becomes defensive and their friendship rolls down hill. Edward seems to hold a grudge against him because he is slytherin. As Roy and Maes walk out on the grounds one nice day, he hears a commotion and tries to follow the sound. He sees the hommunculi surrounding something at the wall of the castle and he realises it is Edward. He pulls out his wand (as does Maes) and challenges the homunculi. They mock him wondering why he is defending a muggle and Roy declares that he is one as well. He bluffs that if they don't back away he is going to kill them then and there. They call his bluff but he starts to say a spell that sounds like Avada Kedavra but isn't it is actually. (altra tazara makes little baby birds fly out of his wand) However it scares them off enough and he jokes that they were afraid of little birds. They help and heal Edward in the hospital ward though it takes a couple days. Edward and Roy talk to each other about what they were like before they met each other, Roy his life in Japan and Edward his curse with Alphonse. Roy offers to help Edward in his search and they begin to become friends again, eventually dating. At the end of the story Edward and Roy together find out an alchemic circle that would help save Alphonse's life at a cost that I didn't figure out yet. Edward does it and Alphonse is healed and they live a bitter sweet ending.

Characters to include:

Hawkeye (Gryffindor)

Jean (Hufflepuff)

Vato (Ravenclaw)

Breda (Slytherin)

Fuery (Gryffindor)- I know this seems weird but even though he is shy he admires bravery so the hat sorted him there.

Edward didn't like Roy Mustang the instant he set eyes on him on the Express. He was arrogant, pompous, and had a two dimensional smirk on his face that any smart person could see through. However, he quickly learned how stupid so many people could be. Students of all grades flocked the new comer. They were loud, obnoxious, and only a few compartments down the noise made it nearly unbearable to read as Edward had found out. They looked at the man like he was famous, possibly a god. Edward guessed that in the man's eyes he probably was as his napoleon complex seemed to blind him to many subtle things, like where he was going. After they had all unboarded the train and headed down towards their appropriate modes of transportation Roy Mustang, being tailed by his vast crowd of fans, ran Edward over and had sent him down a small slope and into the lake from where he was trying to board one of the carriages. Being completely soaked and laughed at was not how Edward wanted to start his year at Hogwarts and as he stumbled out of the water and up the mucky slope Roy Mustang just wore that stupid smirk the entire time.

"Sorry, guess you were so short I didn't see you there," the man commented to him. Edward wanted to punch his throat in but thought better of spending his energy on the kiss ass of a fool and boarded his own carriage with his clothes still soaking wet. However, little known to him at the time, he would just learn to hate the man more as the night wore on.

Edward glared from his seat at the Gryffindor house table as he watched Roy Mustang get sorted by the hat. He was a new transfer student from Mahoutokoro in Japan. With anyone else Edward would have been curious as to what it was like over there. He probably would have flocked him like anyone else with his millions of questions that he wanted to ask. However, it wasn't just anyone else, it was Roy Mustang and Edward wouldn't stoop to that level of fascination.

Since he was new to Hogwarts he was getting sorted along with the first years. Edward took what little pride he could to notice how stupid the man looked being a fifth year amongst the tiny little eleven year olds however it wasn't enough to soothe his disgust. He only found new boiling hatred for the man as his was sent right on over to the Slytherin table, quickly laughing up a storm like they were best friends already. Of course he was sent to that house. Of course it was Slytherin who accepted bastards like them into their house. It was the only place that could.

There was no way on Earth that Edward was ever going to get along with Roy Mustang.

…

Edward sat at the breakfast table with his friend Winry Rockbell. She was from Hufflepuff even though Edward would have liked to see her be put in Slytherin as well with the way she haggled him out of his money every time they went to Hogsmead. They had just gotten their schedules and were comparing them to each other. Winry always had a few of her electives filled with muggle studies.

She was so fascinated in their contraptions that she needed to learn more of them. She had learned, mostly by the books that Edward had sent to her over their summers away from his muggle home, how to make wonderful contraptions of sorts even though most pureblooded families don't know a wrench from a door knob. She constructed clocks, bikes, motors, and even prosthesis all of which she charmed (unbeknownst to the teachers at Hogwarts) to work within the wards of the school. She found most of the parts that she used, though Edward had no clue where, but that was one reason that she might have earned her stay in Hufflepuff.

"I don't care what you say, Edward Elric, muggle studies is a good class. They know what they are talking about there-" Winry argued with him when he challenged her choice in study.

"Half of what they know isn't even logical. I still meet people in that class who ask me what the point of a rubber duck is. You would spend much better use of your time if you would stop being a gearhead and take classes to actually help you understand the science behind things-"

"Potions and herbology are for magical things and you know it. I don't want to learn about magical things I want to learn about muggle ones-"

"Then why in the bloody hell are you at a magic school?!" Edward exclaimed.

"Because I am a witch!" she retorted dumbly and he just rolled his eyes at her.

"Bah," Edward growled as he gave up on her. She made no sense. She would have made much better use of her time if she went to a muggle school, maybe even a muggle college to learn about machines. Instead she wasted her time at Hogwarts learning spells instead of gears.

Edward's class schedule was loaded with as much science based classes as he could get. He knew that magic wasn't anything like science from his old muggle life but it was the closest thing he could get. They held sense to him and didn't have mislead concepts of what the muggles reasons were behind half of the things they did. A rubber duck in potions was a rubber duck, nothing more.

As they argued back and forth about which class was better and discussed the competency of their professors, Alphonse joined them at the table. His little Ravenclaw of a brother was just in the year below him.

"So what period did you get potions this time?" Alphonse asked him eagerly when he saw that they were comparing schedules.

"First."

"Man, that's the best time. Professor Curtis isnt as pissed during the first few classes because she didn't have to deal with all of the idiots-"

"Never thought I would hear you say something like that, little brother," Edward chuckled in surprise to his brothers snideness. "Is that Ravenclaw ego getting to your head?"

"No! But you remember I had last period potions last year. It was horrible! At least three cauldrons blew up during the finals and the professor got on everyone's case every single class. It was a lot of work for no reason!" Alphonse defended but Edward just chuckled again making the Ravenclaw grow red. "Well your classes can't be any better, brother!"

"I love potions no matter how many dumbasses are in it," Edward smirked as he crossed his arms smugly.

"Oh, hey," Winry commented as she handed Edward back his schedule, "I think you got class with that new kid, what was his name?"

"Mustang?" Alphonse asked in surprise just to get a confirming nod from Winry.

"Yeah, Edward, I got a glance at his schedule and I think you share some classes with him-"

"Fuck!" Edward exclaimed as he slammed his head down on the table to both Winrys and Alphonse's surprise. Edward groaned. "This can't fucking be happening."

"What do you mean Edward? I thought you liked potions no matter who was in it," Alphonse chided to which he was answered with a cold glare from his elder brother.

"I said I didn't care if I shared classes with dumbasses this new guy is just a complete bastard. He fits into a whole other category!"

"He can't be that bad. You are just upset that he accidentally ran into you-"

"I fell into the lake!"

"It's just a bit of water, brother-"

"I can't swim-"

"It wasn't that much-"

"I rust, unlike you," Edward growled back at him motioning to the sleeve of his jacket which all of them knew what lied underneath. Alphonse paused for a minute as a flicker of dread flew into their conversation but it was gone as soon as it came. He rolled his eyes and picked up their argument where it laid.

"He apologised for it."

"And then called me short!"

"Come on Ed, stop holding a grudge. You might actually see that you like him," Winry told him.

"Yeah, only when hell freezes over will I ever like a Slytherin, Roy Mustang at that," Edward huffed as the bells rang out through the castle from the clock tower. They all stood up to leave but before Edward could step off he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his little brother looking at him with slightly worried eyes.

"Brother, at least try to be nice. There is more to someone than a first impression."

"Yeah I will tell him that."

…

Edward felt his blood boil as he stared up at the front of the class where Roy Mustang was talking to Professor Curtis about something or another. He wore the same stupid grin on his face as if he had someone one upped. Edward knew that was far from the case but it seemed that their Stern teacher was letting him believe what he wanted. In time he would learn but for now he was a talker.

"Class this is Roy Mustang," the professor said as the rest of the class took their seats. "That is all you need to know about him now take your seat or you will find that your next cup of pumpkin juice will be tainted with lip sealing potion," the woman said pointedly to the new comer. Roy, with the same stupid smirk, held up his hands in defeat. Though her crudeness should have stunned him he was as casual as ever, which just made Edward hate him more. The Professor was a legend amongst the students for being absolutely the most frightening thing on the earth. Though Edward was one student who was able to put up with Professor Curtis' crude teaching methods and strict behavior, he was still wholeheartedly intimidated by the woman. Seeing the new kid just blatantly wave the harshness off made his blood boil.

As the kid looked around for an empty seat his eyes fell upon Edward and the Gryffindor felt his stomach tighten. He was begging everything in the world that the Slytherin wasn't going to do what he thought he was but unfortunately it was obvious that he wasn't that good at begging. Roy Mustang took the stool right next to Edward. The Gryffindor cursed his luck quite vocally to which the Professor easily took off five points from his house before the first class of the year even began. Roy seemingly pretended not to hear it.

They started to learn about the polyjuice potion and it's long time . Edward was left mentally cursing to himself as the person he vowed to stay farthest away from Sat right next to him. Roy kept looking over at a couple girls on the other side of the classroom. The man was playing silent flirting games that made Edward absolutely sick to his just wished that the kid could pay attention to the board because he really didn't want to think about how Mustang was probably going to get with half the girls in the school. It was gross. However even with his obvious attachment to the other side of the class, the kid kept looking over at him like he was studying him. His stare felt like an itch that he couldn't get off.

"Stop staring at me," Edward huffed under his breath to his nosy neighbor.

"What are you talking about, Fullmetal?" The man asked him. Edward froze when he heard that word come out of his mouth. He felt his muscles tighten as his blood boiled within him. He felt himself heat up as it took everything he had to stop himself from exploding on the kid for calling him that. He didn't even know where that name came from. He probably just heard it in the common room somewhere with all of the other cruel Slytherin and probably took advantage of it just to piss him off. He wasn't any different than the rest of those green bastards. Edward hated it.

"Don't call me that," he hissed finally, his anger latching to his voice. The kid raised his eyebrow curiously at him as if he wasn't expecting it however it seemed to make him more than pleased.

"Call you what, Fullmetal?" The man asked completely disregarding him. Edward felt his fist clench as he tried to force himself not to punch the bastards teeth in and focus his eyes on the board. He should just have ignored him however now the kid was looking at him again, those devil black eyes boring into him.

"If you don't stop staring at me I'll"

"You'll what, Elric?" The harsh voice of their professor asked. Edward looked up to see the dark haired woman staring down at him with her arms crossed and her eyebrow furrowed angrily. Though Edward was Professor Curtis' best student, he was also a Gryffindor which was precisely why he knew he was going to get detention. Professor Curtis never pushed anyone harder or to the extreme as Gryffindor. He didn't know why, but he was just lumped in with the rest of the crowd under the woman's legendary reign of terror. Edward growled and held out his hand for the detention notice that the professor already had gladly written out for him. He took it silently and shoved it into his pocket. "8:30, Elric," she reminded him as if he didn't already spend enough time in the dungeons to forget.

"Yeah," he seethed as he stacked his books and shoved them into his satchel. He gave one last glare at the new comer and excused himself from the room to await instructions of his punishment in the hall. Roy just gave him a superficial apologetic smirk that looked more taunting than sorry.

Edward slammed the door behind him and let out a seething breath of air as he paced around trying to let off the steam that was built up inside of him. He couldn't believe that bastard. This was his first day in the entire country let alone school and he still managed to get him detention. The Slytherins were tormenting him ever since he got here his first year. It wasn't just because of house rivalry. It wasn't because he was a muggle born, though the tension between the different lineages was at its peak. It was because he was different, a little too different. Edward looked down at his right arm for a second. His eyes caught the short flash of metal between his sleeve and the cuff of his gloves. He closed his eyes and took in a huge breath to settle his mind and shook his head disbanding his thoughts.

Yeah. He was just a little too different. But Mustang was just the same as the rest of them.

…..

"Brother, I can't believe you got detention on your first day!" Alphonse exclaimed as he took the pink slip from his brothers hand over dinner that night. Edward rolled his eyes and growled under his breath, tired of explaining himself. He had already tried to explain what had happened to Winry however she still blamed it all on him and gave him a good walloping if he tried to tell her differently.

"It wasn't my fault, AL! It was that bastard's!" He complained as he pointed across the room towards where the Slytherin was enjoying his meal in a crowd of Green. Edward glared at the man who had not acknowledged that anyone was talking about him. The black haired kid was sitting in a mess of other notorious Slytherins all who had it out for him. Envy, Lust, Gluttony, they were all crowded around the new kid like they owned him. Unknown to him they probably did.

Alphonse followed Edwards stare out to the crowd and knew instantly what he was glaring at.

"Edward, though he is sitting with them doesn't mean he is one of them-"

"Hell yes it does. He contaminated. Do you know what he called me today?"

"Full-"

"Yes! He doesn't even know what it means, or why. He doesn't care. He's just like them. He's hanging out with them and soon he'll start picking on little kids and stealing their Christmas money like the rest of them-"

"Brother, you just got a detention. He isn't stealing anything."

"He's stealing my personal time-"

"That's nothing like stealing Christmas presents from children!" Alphonse exclaimed knowing that their argument was going to go nowhere. "Look just tell him you don't like to be called that-"

"I did and he ignored me!" Edward retorted.

"Does he know why?"

"Why would I tell him why? That would be like telling the whole world again what happened to us. Telling everyone that we're different. Remember my first year? Do you want to repeat _that?"_ He hissed at him. Alphonse clamped his mouth shut as Edward reminded him of the horrible first year at Hogwarts. Alphonse only remembered it because Edward entered school the year after him, though in his proper grade. He was delayed for his surgery. When Edward first came he was never self conscious of his limbs, they just were something that were there however the Slytherins changed everything and not too kindly either. Now Edward never walked around without anything covering them and he never approached a Slytherin again.

"Edward, I understand why you are upset. You don't have to tell him, but at least talk to him. He isn't a bad person. You just need to get to know him."

"Feh," Edward spat as he glanced down at his detention slip. Talking about that bastard Slytherin made him lose his appetite. He stood up from where they were gathered around for dinner, Alphonse looking at him worriedly.

"You aren't going to eat?"

"No," he sighed. "I better get going before Professor Curtis decides to give me more work for being late. I will see you later Al."


	7. The Steadfast Tin Soldier

_**The Steadfast Tin Soldier**_

 **Summary:** _Edward is a little tin soldier without a leg. What person would ever like a broken toy? Ignored by the other soldiers he adventures around the playroom to find a windup robot toy named Alphonse. He learns that not everyone who is incomplete is really broken._

 **Note:** This story was inspired by a picture someone made on tumblr of Edward as a tin soldier. I liked it so much that I had to make a prompt based after the story the Steadfast Tin Soldier. It is such a cute little story but of course I changed it a bit to make it a little more adventurous and happy.

 **Plot:** Edward is a little toy tin soldier who was made incomplete without a leg. He is given with the other soldiers in the bunch as a present to Selim Bradley for christmas. Usually being cast aside by the other soldiers and their child because he is thought of being incomplete, Edward is used to being alone. When Selim is playing with the other soldiers and Edward is forgotten on the floor he goes exploring the other toys that Selim has. Many of them mock him for having to hobble around as a broken toy, but he manages to find a old wind up robot toy that caught his attention. It has run out of juice and Edward struggles to wind it back up. Startling awake, the robot thanks Edward for saving him and introduces himself as Alphonse. Al never gets to explore to talk to the other toys in the room when not being played with because he always runs out of juice and shuts down after his is unwound. Together Edward and Alphonse explore and hang around together whenever Selim isn't playing. Edward always tries to wind him up whenever he can because he is the only person who doesn't care if he isn't full.

The other soldiers don't like it that Edward is missing formation and leaving the box that they are in. Roy Mustang, another soldier, warns him about the dangers of intermingling where he doesn't belong. He already knows that many of the toys in the playroom don't like the idea of Edward being broken and he doesn't want him making anymore trouble for himself. Edward however ignores him and continues to go out.

One day when Edward and Alphonse are out exploring they come up upon a new toy that was added to the lot, a paper ballerina. Edward is completely taken by her and watches her but never makes himself known. Many of the other toys are taking a liking to her beauty but she tries her best to get away from them. Edward continues to try and see her whenever he can and Alphonse always teases him that he likes her. Edward retorts dumbly not wanting to admit it, "Why would anyone like a broken toy?".

The Ballerina is very peculiar to him as she doesn't act like any of the other dolls he sees in the play room. The Ballerina, when she thinks people aren't watching, gathers up stray parts in her sash and tinkers. He watches as she actually fixes an old smashed wind up mouse toy one night and is absolutely amazed. No toy ever helped out a broken one before.

One evening when all of the toys are out Edward is busy trying to wind Alphonse back up. He hears a commotion and looks up to see a Goblin toy named Kimblee pushing the Ballerina around. It is obvious that the Ballerina doesn't like him and tries to get away from him but he grabs her. Not knowing what else to do Edward tackles the goblin away from the Ballerina and they wrestle a bit. Edward eventually pins the goblin with his bayonet and tells him to stay away from her. The goblin knowing he was defeated, doesn't fight but warns the soldier that he shouldn't try hanging out where he doesn't belong and that no matter what he does the ballerina would be his.

Edward quickly takes the ballerina back to where he knows her little workshop is and asks if she is okay. She introduces herself as Winry and says that she had seen him around. Edward assumes that she meant in formation but she meant that she saw him help the robot toy and also watching her from behind the tinkertoys. How else did he know where her little workshop was and take her there instead of her cardboard castle? Edward question her on why she helped that broken mouse toy and she doesn't really give him a straight answer but instead asks him if he would like a leg. He doesn't really know how to answer because no one really ever helped him before. At first he wanted to deny it because he didn't feel it was right. No one helps him. But after a bit of bickering and persistence from Winry, she starts to make him a leg. She took measurements of his leg but it would still take a long time for her to actually make it.

Edward continues to leave the formation and Mustang gets rather annoyed. Wanting to tell Alphonse that he can't continue to pull Edward away he follows Edward and realises that he wasn't just seeing Alphonse but Winry as well. Mustang knows how many people want winry, especially the goblin and he drags Edward away. He removes the newly made leg from him in hopes that the goblin doesn't see it and know that Edward is seeing her still then locks him in his space in the tin soldier box. He just wants to keep Edward away from the other toys so that he doesn't get himself in trouble with the wrong people. He feels bad for doing it but he felt like it was the only thing he could do.

After missing for a few days, Winry gets worried for Edward and finds Alphonse. She winds him up and he comes back to life. He is confused that it wasn't Edward who got him and instantly becomes worried. He and Winry sneak over to where the soldiers are kept on the table. During their rounds/marching they free Edward and they escape across the table and window ledge. Winry wants him to stay away from the rest of the soldiers and live with Alphonse and her but Edward argues with her. He knows that Mustang is right and even says that a broken soldiers like him shouldn't be around them anymore. He turns to just go back to the other soldiers but stops when Kimblee stands in his way. The Goblin saw Winry helping him and wanted to finally put a top to it and claim what was his. Edward stumbles backwards as Kimblee charges and tries to lift his small tin gun but with one quick bat, he is knocked out the open window and into the street below. Alphonse tries to protect Winry as well but he is knocked off of the window ledge and shatters to the floor amongst the other toys. Kimblee captures Winry and manages to gain control over the entire play room as he corruptedly controls most of the tin soldiers and other toy ruffians.

Roy struggles to live amongst the other soldiers as they follow Kimblee's orders. He wants to figure out how to stop him but after hearing what happened to Edward he knows that he has to go find him. One evening he sneaks off to try and find Alphonse. He looks to where the robot usually was but he isn't there. Eventually he stumbles upon the broken pieces of Alphonse and in desperation starts to put him back together. Over a few nights Roy manages to rebuild him and they go out to find Edward.

Edward, meanwhile, is stuck outside of the house. He stumbles around needing to try and find a way back in but he has trouble on the ice and doesn't make it far. Two homeless boys stumble upon him and pick him up. They start to play with him and take him far away from the house he knew. Edward is devastated but is actually amazed that the kids want to play with him. They put him in a little toy boat and sail him around the little streams in the gutter. Unfortunately they start to bicker on who get to play with him and forget that he is sailing down a stream. The boat ends up hitting the curb and breaking and he falls down into the sewer grate but not before dropping his rifle. Without his rifle as a crutch he is stuck down there and unable to get out.

A rat named Greed comes upon him as he is trying to get out. He taunts him that his owners had forgotten him as he had never seen a toy down in the sewers before but Edward yells at him, not wanting to hear it. Amazed that the toy had such a mouth he offers the soldier a deal. He will take him back to his house if he would be willing to rid the house of its traps so that he could live there as well as sneak him some food. With no other option and desperate to return home, Edward agrees. The rat lets him climb up on his back and journeys up the sewer and onto the street. Unfortunately Edward is lost and he doesn't know where the house is. They quickly lose their way.

Meanwhile, alphonse and Roy journey out on their own and try to find Edward. From rumors of a local crow they heard where he was taken and run down as fast as their little legs could take them, Alphonse having to be wound up more than once. They see the boat crash and find Edward's bayonet next to it. Unfortunately they don't know where they had gone from there. They return to the house and ask the crow for help. With reluctance, the crow flies around with Roy on its back and tries to find Edward. It spots them down in an alley and lands scaring the rat. Greed thinks that the crow is going to kill him and tries to fight/run but Roy spots Edward and they catch each other's attention.

They quickly return to the house, get Alphonse and make their way into the playroom. They split up and Roy goes to the tin soldier box and sets a toy letter block on the lid to trap the few soldiers who are sleeping on their off shift in there. Alphonse and Edward make their way over to the mantle over the fireplace where the goblin lives. Winry is up there and Edward struggles to scale the shelves. Alphonse helps boost him up but unfortunately they are noticed by the few soldiers left on guard and are attacked. Alphonse holds them off with his larger body as Edward continues to climb. Kimblee sees him and instead of waiting for him to climb all the way up, he bounds down to him on a lower ledge and they start fighting. They manage to move onto an unsteady tower of jenga blocks and after a bad step it collapses down in front of the hearth. Some of the blocks rebound off of the fire and catch alite, scattering across the stone around them. Edward tries to stand up after his fall but he could feel himself heat up. With that much fire around him he slowly starts to melt. The goblin however is made out of better material and after recovering, starts for him. He taunts him with quote:"Farewell, farewell, O warrior brave,Nobody can from Death thee save." Edward scrambles and crawls for his rifle. Seeing his struggle Alphonse tries to help him but he is quickly running out of power. Kimblee charges Edward and just a he reaches him, Edward brings his bayonette around and the goblin runs right onto it. He pushes him off and the goblin falls into the fire to be consumed by flame.

Edward is left in the heat and his colors start to melt off. Winry wants to help him however she is paper and couldn't go near. Other toys too wary to enter the ring of fire Edward was trapped in watch as the paint on his arm and face starts to fade away. He is too weak to get up and leave but he still tries to crawl his way out of the fire, unfortunately he is unable to. When Edward loses consciousness after his arm starts to melt away, Roy finally returns from battle so see him there. He exclaims why no one is trying to help him but getting no answer he jumps into the middle of the scattered flame despite being made of the same material. He quickly picks the melting soldier up in his arms and drags him to safety ignoring the fact that his own paint starts to melt from him.

Edward's arm had started to melt and was distorted. Patches of color that melted off of his body left silver undertone. Winry scolds all of the other toys for their ignorance and announces that Edward saved them from Kimblee's reign. They realise what they had done and all start to pitch in to help. They quickly find some paint and try to fix Edward up. Some of the more sturdy toys return Edward slowly to heat so that they could reshape his arm under Winry's guidance and others pain his colors back on. Edward wakes up to be fixed up (though still missing his leg) and everyone rejoices. Life returns to normal except now all of the toys try to help those that are broken.


	8. Sold

_**Sold**_

 _ **Summary:**_ _Roy Mustang is a physicist who works on new inventions with his adopted daughter Winry as his mechanic. However, unfunded by the universities for his too advanced theories, he continues to run the plantation he inherited to make a living and fund his research. After one of his slave drivers, Kimblee, announces that one of his slaves passed away. Mustang needs to buy a replacement to keep his crop tended. Unbeknownst to him, his buy is going to prove more stressful yet more rewarding than he thought._

 **Plot:** Roy Mustang is a physicist and chemist who works on new inventions and studies. However, unfunded by the universities for his too advanced theories, he runs the plantation he inherited to make a living and fund his research. After one of his slave drivers, Kimblee announces that one of his slaves mysteriously passed away, Mustang needs to go and buy a replacement to keep his crop tended. He goes to the market and sees a golden-haired slave. No one wants to buy him because of his tempered and bold personality. After inquiry, the seller informed him that if he doesn't sell yet again he was going to be killed. Mustang, after contemplation, decides to buy him against Kimblee's concerns but Roy reasons with him that the slave was cheap as they were to come and that he couldn't afford much more expensive ones. Slave 310, as the auctioner sold him as, is set to work in the fields and life seemed to go back to normal.

Roy struggles with a rather difficult equation when news of a slave attempting to run away gets to him. Upon hearing that punishment is already being taken out, he orders Kimblee to bring the slave to him. The slave is brought into his mansion in chains. Roy sets down his current work on the side table and studies him, recognizing that he was the slave he just recently bought. He sees that there are already cuts on his face, one near his eye, from where the men already started to beat him. Roy reprimands Kimblee for already starting to beat the slave because he's his property and if something were to happen to him he would no longer be able to work. Roy takes Kimblee into the study for more punishment, leaving the slave out in the hallway for the time being. Edward, the slave, was never in the house before nor really had the time to meet his owner. That was the first encounter he has had with him since he was bought. He didn't think much of him until Edward spots his work left on the table beside him. Making sure that the coast was clear he edges closer to the table to get a look at it. Physics scrawl was scribbled all over the pages and Edward looks it over. He picks up the pen that Mustang was using to correct his work and marks a few things down on the paper for him. As he is working, quickly in hopes of not to be caught, he hears the men finishing their conversation. Before he could put the pen back down they come out of the study and Edward is forced to hide it in the folds of his clothes. He looks over to one of the doorways, not wanting to look the furious kimblee in the eye in fear of worse punishment, and he sees a young blond girl standing there, eyes wide and staring at him. It was Winry, Mustang's supposedly adopted daughter. It was obvious that she saw him and he fears the worse but she doesn't say a word to his surprise.

Mustang looks him over once and asks him why he would want to run away. Edward retorts with "wouldn't you?" and Kimblee nearly beats him right there. Mustang holds him back and with a glare orders Edward to be taken back to the slaves quarters and to have confinement for a few days with only water. Edward is locked away but he still has his pen. During his time he scribbles on the walls the equations that he remembers from Mustang's papers. When he runs out of ink he fills the piston with water, when it runs out of that he scratches his answers into the wood of the floors. He hides the pen underneath his group's lumpy mattress and covers the writings with it as well. One day when Edward is sent back out to work, the slave drivers do an inspection of the quarters and find his writing and the stolen pen. The other slaves point fingers towards Edward and the drivers go to retrieve him from the fields. He tries to flee but the drivers run him down on their horses and take him in. Kimblee, unhappy with his previous punishment, ties Edward to the whipping post before he goes to retrieve Mustang from the house. Roy comes out with the pen in his hand and a curious look on his face. He doesn't seem surprised that it was him. He asks Edward if he stole the pen and Edward mentions that he might have 'forgotten to put it back'. He asks him what he used it for and Edward retorted as well just to get a swift kick to the stomach by one of the drivers. Roy tells them off but does nothing to comfort Ed. Instead he turns to Kimblee and asks what else he found since there couldn't have been a pen without writing, especially if the ink was gone. Kimblee shows him the markings on the floor that were covered up by the mattress. Roy studies them and notices that they were of his work, altered and corrected slightly. He is amazed and quickly pulls out his journal to copy them down. He walks back out to where Edward was being held. It seems that the other drivers have already begun his punishment as they begin to whip him however Roy quickly stops them. He bends down to where Edward is tied to the post. His back is bleeding but the boy's wheezing refused to turn to screams. Roy asked him if those writings were his and then if he was educated. Edward, unable to really answer, nods his head. Roy decides that in the evening Edward will come into the mansion and proof read his calculations for him after his field work is done. Kimblee tries to argue but Roy wouldn't hear it. He needed something to help his work out and this was the key. Edward does as is ordered. He goes into the house under guard and chain to correct and focus on Roy's work. It is usually during dinner time so Edward keeps to the study room while the family and guests are in the dining room.

Th first night Edward is brought into the house, Roy shows him where to go and what to do. He is set in the study with his work as Roy skips out on dinner to finish some of his papers. Roy tells him that he was surprised that a slave could read and write let alone understand his work. He asks him how and when he learned but Edward simply retorts that he had lived a good eighteen years and that during some of that time one would expect him to pick up a few things. Roy didn't like how Edward was skipping around his question however let it be.

On one occasion Winry made a plate of cakes for the neighbors and set them out in the study until she could bring them into the guests after dinner. She didn't like the neighbors at all and purposely made them with too much flour so they would be bland and distasteful. Edward, who was locked in the study during that time on his work, couldn't help himself from taking a few because he was starving. When Winry came back into retrieve the cakes she finds that the plate is completely bare. She looks over to Edward and sees the flour on his shirt. Edward begs her, trying to compliment her cooking saying that he couldn't help himself but Winry just laughs. She says she knew he was lying about her food because the cakes were terrible and she knew it. She asks him about how much food he gets, wondering why he was so hungry to have eaten the whole plate. He says that he got one bowl of maggot filled oats in the morning and one at night with a few glasses of water in between. Winry asks if everyone eats like that and he nods his head. She quickly runs out of the room just to bring back a small basket of food, mostly fresh bread and a few fruits. She hands it to him and Edward takes it hesitantly unsure if it was a trick. His eyes boggle at the vast amount of it. Winry tells him to share it with the rest of the slaves and he replies softly that he wouldn't think of denying them something like that.

When the night wears on and Edward finishes his work, he heads back outside to go back to the slave quarters with the basket of food. He doesn't even clear the front yard when Kimblee sees him. Thinking he is trying to steal food, the man hits him and throws the basket out of his hands. Edward tries to protect himself but his shackled hands make it hard to maneuver and his chained ankles prevent him from running. He is beaten just to be dragged right back to the house into the living room where everyone is partying lightly. Kimblee announces that Edward is yet again a thief and proposes that he should be taught a lesson. Winry however stands up for him and claims that she had given him the basket of food to take. Roy looks at her surprised, unknowing of this trade, and asks her why she would do that. She explains the situation and he nods his head, ordering that the slave drivers make more regulated meals for them. After all, what good are starving slaves when they need to work? Winry takes Edward back to the kitchen and fixes him another basket. Edward looks up and around the vastness of the place and he suddenly feels kind of sad in the silence of the moment. He remembers when he had a house. Winry hands him another basket and apologises for what had happened. Edward told her not to apologize to him, it didn't look good for her image. Winry laughed lightly and tells him that as a physicist daughter and a mechanic, she doesn't have an image. Edward is sent back outside and he returns to the slave quarters with the food and news of their new meals. Everyone rejoices.

Kimblee, not liking how Edward seems to show him up whenever they converse, runs him into the ground the next few days of field work. He makes him run back and forth between the water spiket and his place at the field to get him some water. It is a scortching hot day and it is nearly a mile walk. All day he runs just for Kimblee's amusement and then after the good part of the first half of the day, Kimblee orders him to tend his row entirely. Edward arrives exhausted at the mansion in the evenings but holds his head up like everything is fine. After a few good days of that Edward almost starts to fall asleep on Mustang's papers. The man asks what is wrong with him and scolds him for being lazy. Because of him falling asleep Roy makes him stand up to do his work to prevent that. Edward follows his orders but too soon he fell over, passed out from exhaustion and dehydration. Edward awakes in a soft bed with a cool wet cloth over his face. He pulls it off with a shaky hand and realizes that shackles are off and he is in the house, in a bedroom he never saw before. Before he could process anything, he has a jug of water nearly shoved down his throat as Winry tries to make him rehydrate himself. She had been watching over him and explains to him what happened. Roy comes in and validates the story. Edward begs him not to sell him as his previous owners had a habit of selling slaves who became ill. Roy tells him that he wouldn't do that if he tells him why he didn't drink water for so long. Edward, reluctantly tells him what had happened, not wanting to be a tattle tale against the slave drivers. It had only proven him to get worse treatment. Roy understands and leaves to decide for him to work in the house and only the house. Edward asks Winry why Mustang was so nice to him. She asks him about his treatment before and Edward doesn't dive too deep but gives her a rough outline about what his life was like previously. He accidentally said that it was ten years that he had been under that treatment and Winry asks him what the other eight years were like since he was only eighteen. Edward closes his mouth and doesn't reply, ending the story there.

Edward begins work in the house. He is usually stuck in the study but leaves only to use the bathroom which is outside and all the way back at the slave quarters about a quarter mile from the house as well as to get his food. The other slaves don't like it that he is working in the house. They think he is getting special treatment while they are working in the fields all day. Sometimes the servers would skimp on his food because they think he is getting fed at the house. One time a group of the slaves collected the caterpillars that they remove from the leaves of the crop and gave him that instead of the meal. He must force himself to eat it as the slave drivers jokingly don't want him to waste his food. Back in the study he gets sick and runs outside, nearly tripping over his shackles to empty his stomach. Mustang follows him out thinking that he was running away again but sees that he is just sick. He gets Edward a glass of water and a bucket so he could return to work. After Edward goes back inside Roy looks at the mess that Edward made and noticed that the contents still had bits of bugs in it.

Roy gets to talking with Edward in his study, usually on the topic of science to aid in his research. He manages to state that he isn't good with mechanics so his design for a flying machine wouldn't be anything without his daughter Winry. He gets talking about how he adopted her and asks Edward if he has a family. Edward's eyes widen and he keeps his mouth closed. Roy realized that he touched a touchy subject especially since Edward is a slave and doesn't have a right to family. Roy doesn't apologies for his question but drops the subject. Edward is slow to work the rest of the night as his mind wanders to the family that he once had. When he is done and goes to the door to make his hike back towards the slave quarters, Winry is walking back into the house with a few oil smudges on her face and a wired contraption in her hands. She nearly runs into him as she doesn't notice he's there. Edward quickly apologizes for being in her way. She stops him and asks him if everything is alright, seeing that something seems off with him. Edward assures her that he is as good as he ever could be as a slave, and that standard isn't high at all.

Edward manages to steal some time to write a letter. He writes a letter to another slave farm under an alias and asks about the whereabouts of Alphonse Elric. He quickly forages a signature and seals the letter, hiding it amongst the others to be sent out. Roy returns none the wiser.

Roy goes out into town and brings Edward along to help run errands for him. They walk through town and Winry is bugging Roy that if he is trying to marry her off since she came of age that he should at least look for a woman of his own. Roy rolls his eyes and ignores her saying that he doesn't need anyone and continues his errands as Winry gets a new dress for the dinner that evening. Edward is ordered to retrieve some goods from the store like more writing paper, ink, and such. He is given a list and Roy tells him to make sure he comes back with everything. Edward walks into the store and silently hands the man the list and the store tender, not too nicely, rings him up. Edward notices that the man skimped on a few of the items and only got half of the others. He tells him this and the store owner accuses him of lying. He is beaten, thrown out of the store and then the police come to settle the argument, not in Edward's favor at all. Edward doesn't know what to do and tries to defend himself but that of course doesn't go over too well for him. Just as he is about to get kicked while he's down, someone comes and stops them. Edward expects it to be Mustang or Winry as they are the only people who would really defend him however it isn't either of them. Instead it is someone he doesn't know, a Riza Hawkeye. The police as well as the owner quickly back down as she is the Mayor's daughter, unmarried but still in touch of power. She helps Edward up and he scrambles to pick up the money that Mustang gave him to buy the goods which had scattered to the ground in the fight. She asks him what he was doing and he explains. Without telling him what she is doing, she goes back into the store and buys him what he needs. She comes back out and hands it to him just as Roy is returning to him. He sees this and asks him what is going on, fearing that Edward bribed her into buying something for him. Edward tries to explain but Hawkeye cuts him off. She says that the general store owner is commonly known to cheat slaves out of their due amount and that she was just correcting the issue. Roy tries to give her the money that he was supposed to use to pay for it however she denies him out flat saying that if he wants to keep inventing and not have to worry about his funds that he should take what little offers he could get. On a friendly note and a suggestion on Roy's slave treatment, she goes off to what she was doing previously. Edward, boldly and out of line suggests that he invites her over to dinner since it was still apparent that Roy wanted to repay her. Roy stares at him amazed at the suggestion but follows through with it and invites her over to eat. They get along well enough and Riza asks to spend more time together. When Roy returns to the study where Edward was working after Riza goes home he notices that Edward has a small smile on his face as he knows that the dinner went well.

Roy receives a letter addressed to him however named for someone else (Edward's Alias). He opens it and reads the letter, wondering what it was all about. He laughs at the absurdity of it and tosses it in the garbage. Edward fishes it out later and sees that the man had written back saying that he sold Alphonse to someone else, whos address is provided. Edward's hopes are lifted and he quickly writes another letter to the new address to send out.

Roy is working hard on his calculations of flight he decides to eat dinner in the study. As he is eating he subconsciously asks Edward if he wanted some since he couldn't finish it. Edward is taken back and Roy realizes his mistake in asking a slave if they wanted to share a meal. Roy had grown so accustomed to having Edward in his study that he sometimes forgot that he was still a slave. Roy quickly tries to return to his work, knowing that it was a mistake to try and divert his attention however Edward, after a slight pause, answers yes. Roy falters a little bit but gives him the plate. Edward, looking to make sure it is alright and not a trick, takes a small bite of the meal. Roy tells him to use the fork instead of his fingers. It is the best thing he had to eat in ages and it reminds him of the food his mom used to make. He almost cries over it and Roy notices this. Roy starts to realise how different their lives are and ponders what simple joys that the slaves are denied just because of their ownership.

Winry is visited by a courting man and he invites her on an evening out. She reluctantly goes as she knows that Roy is trying to marry her off. The man waits in the study while Edward is working to wait for Winry to finish getting dressed. The courting man rubs it in his face about how he is going to take winry out on a date and gets into gruesome detail with what he wants to do. He orders Edward not to say a peep but he is afraid for Winry. When she comes back and is ready to go, Edward motions to her that he needs to talk. Though he knows it is not his position to butt in, he shouldn't even be asking her anything at all, he needs to warn her about the man. She accepts his invitation but then defends the man against his accusations. He grabs her and tries to tell her not to go but she slaps him and Roy sees this. Roy, defending his daughter, quickly pushes Edward away from her and the save drivers come in and take him outside, removing him from the situation. Winry asks Roy to calm down as he is over reacting to what happened. Her date however makes some rude comment about Edward and says that Roy should discipline his slaves more especially when they are working in the house with them. There is heavy tension between everyone but soon winry is whisked off on her date and Roy is left to deal with Edward. Taking the man's words to heart Roy goes out to where the slave drivers had Edward restrained and waited his orders. Hesitantly, he tells them to give Edward thirty lashes. Edward screams at him to try and make him understand but is kicked for talking back. Roy returns to the house, disettled by the event but lets the drivers fill the punishment. Winry comes back home crying, her new dress torn. She tells how the man tried to take advantage of her but luckily she was able to beat him back with a wrench she accidentally left in her purse. Roy realizes his mistake and after comforting his daughter, runs down to the whipping post near the fields to see Edward still tied to it, having been left to hang after his punishment. His back is raw and he looks only half conscious. Roy unchains him and tries to pick him up however his back is so beaten that he only manages to hurt him more. Roy resorts to slinging him over his back and dragging him back to the house for care. He puts salve on the wounds and tends to them himself. He ignores his pride and apologises to Edward for what he did. Edward mumbles something about telling Alphonse not to cry as he isn't fully aware of himself and halfway dreaming. Roy listens to him and notes that Edward repeats the same name very fondly over and over again. When Edward wakes up Roy apologises again and thanks Edward for being so loyal and trying to help winry. Edward notes that if he was anyone else someone might have listened to him. He says that slaves want to do the right thing, but sometimes it is hard when you get punished for standing up. He just didn't want to see Winry hurt so he had to risk punishment to try.

Edward heals but notices that Winry hasn't touched her tools since her horrible date and it seems that she is avoiding Roy's suggestions to work on something. Roy had begun to give Edward food that is left over from dinner and when he goes into the kitchen he sees Winry crying there with a wrench in her hand. Apparently she was trying to fix the sink pipes. He asks her what is wrong, not getting too close to her in fear that she might slap him again. Winry says that she would never get married if she continues to be a mechanic. Her date had told her that what he was doing was the only way she would ever feel love as an estranged female mechanic. No other man would understand the work she does or accept it. She says that she has to give up mechanics in order to be married off. Edward gently scolds her and says that is ridiculous. Any man who doesn't like her work is an idiot and fooling themselves. He tells her that if she loves to do something she shouldn't stop it. Winry thanks him for his words and hugs him. Edward tries to push her off, afraid that someone would come in and see them and then punish him after wards. Winry apologises to him for not listening to him in the first place. Edward tells her that if she was to have listened to him he would have thought there was something wrong with her. Winry chuckles but only half heartedly as she starts to ponder his life.

Roy continues to go on dates with Riza however they start to get into an argument when Riza realizes that Edward is still under his ownership. She is a strong abolitionist at heart and she wants Roy to free Edward. He tries to reason that he couldn't just do that and that he still needed funding from the farm in order to work with his research. They fight and she leaves, not wanting to see him again. Roy storms into the study, angry and sees Edward still working, nonethewiser as to what happened. He orders Edward to leave and nearly beats him out of the house. Edward goes running back to the slave quarters not knowing what came over Roy.

Roy receives another envelope addressed to the wrong person. He gets very curious as to how this is happening and sees that it is about the same slave but now from a different place. Instead of throwing it away though he tries to contact the postal service to clear things up. Edward manages to sneak a peak at the letter and sees that Alphonse is still currently working at the farm that the letter came from. Edward sees that the farm isn't too far away, just 20 miles. Working late one night, everyone is nearly off to bed, Edward decides it is time to leave. He gathers a small amount of food from the kitchen and sneaks out of the front door. Unfortunately for him, it closes a bit too loud and wakes up the house. Edward runs for it but Mustang gets together a search group to bring him back. He hops on a horse and hunts him down. Edward manages to lose them for a little bit but while he is running he accidentally stumbles upon a lynching by the supremacy group. The man they were dealing with was already dead and Edward tries to run but they take him down. Seeing that Edward has some food that obviously slave wouldn't own they accuse him of stealing and bring him over to a fallen stump. They stretch his arm out across it and just as Roy and the search group stumble upon them they chop off his arm. Roy fends them off and bandages Edward up the best that he can before rushing him bac to the house. They call the doctor and properly tend to his wound. Roy is absolutely furious that Edward had tried to run away again. He asks him after everything that happened why he would try it, then of all times. Edward is forced to explain that the letters were to him and that he was trying to find his little brother. He tells them about his family he used to have and how he was educated and lived a good rich life until they were kidnapped and sold into slavery by their rivals. Their mother died in the auction house from abuse and Alphonse and Edward were separated not long after. Everytime he tried to escape over his ten years as a slave he wanted to go and find his brother. Now he knew where he was! He tells Roy that when he heals he would undoubtedly try again and he wasn't going to stop him. Roy tries to absorb the story as the doctor tries to convince him to sell the slave that keeps running away. After a long while Roy just tells him to stay there and heal until he comes up with an idea of what to do with him.

One night when Edward is almost completely healed. He struggles to escape out of the house and run away again. Mustang, however, is sitting on the porch waiting for him, knowing that he would try and escape. He asks him where he is going, already knowing the answer, and then says that he wouldn't be back in time for supper if he didn't take the cart. Roy drives Edward to the address himself and together they find Alphonse. There is a happy little family reunion (many tears) and Alphonse tries to tell Edward how he tried to find him too but unfortunately it is found that Alphonse had his tongue cut out for talking to his master. They are both scarred and in pieces but they are together once more. Roy talks to the owner about buying Alphonse from him. He offers double of what he bought him for and with that the Elric family returns to the Mustang residence.

Edward is taken back into the house to heal and Alphonse stays with him the entire time, not wanting to leave his side at all. They talk through writing but Alphonse is still really tense around Mustang. Roy inquires if Alphonse knows physics and math and offers him to work inside with them. After a few more weeks the calculations are complete for the flying machine and now it is time to actually build it. Roy needs to get it done before the World Fair and they work with Winry to build the machine. (during this time Winry also builds Edward a prosthetic arm). They manage to build it and the test flight works miraculously. They pack it up in carts ready to take it to the fair. When they are about to leave with it, another wagon comes up the driveway. It is rather fancy with a line of black horses and everyone is curious as to who it could be, except Mustang that is. Unbeknownst to the Elrics or Winry, Roy had found the where abouts of Hohenheim and had asked his presence to the Plantation. He arrives and there is another family reunion. Hohenheim tries to order Mustang to free his sons, saying that he shouldn't have to buy something that is rightfully free and his. Roy says that after this project takes off in the fair he wouldn't need to run his farm anymore for funding and that schools and other companies would probably be willing to fund his research. He says that he was going to free all of the slaves. However he does ask that if this works out, that Edward and Alphonse would still work with him in his research. They agree and the world fair turns out amazing. Roy clothes and frees his slaves, Edward and Alphonse included. Hohenheim moves to the town to continue his book company and willingly publishes some of Roys work. Edward and Alphonse work in their own research as well as Roy's. Big success.

A few years later when Edward turns twenty, they are working once more in Roy's study on a new engine of sorts. Roy gets on a conversation of how Winry's prosthetic business is kicking off and Edward is really happy for her. Roy starts to hint at wanting Edward to court his daughter but Edward is oblivious to it, not really getting what he is trying to say. Roy says it out front and Edward gets really embarrassed but does admit that he kind of fancies his daughter. He just didn't know that a former slave would have been worthy. Roy mentions that he has proven himself to be one of the most loyal and strong people he knew and he was glad to have come to know him. Edward starts to court winry and soon they are married.

The end.


	9. The Girl from the Other Side

**_The Girl from the Other Side_**

 ** _Summary:_** _Based on_ _The Girl from the Other Side_ _by Nagabe. After a terrible accident, Winry wakes up to find herself lost in the dark woods away from the safety of her village in the hands of a cursed outsider. In an adventure to return her back to her family, she will find that sometimes monsters are not as dangerous as they are foretold to be._

 ** _Plot:_** The world is split into the Inside and the Outside. The Inside is where the humans live in safety from the darkness and evil that swarms the Outside. Creatures are cursed in the Outside and one touch from them can spread the disease that make them a monstrosity. A large wall separates the Outside from the Inside and it is heavily guarded so that the cursed creatures cannot infect the humans. However paranoia of the curse is spreading. Towns are being raided and people are being killed if others fear they have been touched. It is a witch hunt and no one can escape.

Winry lived in a village near the edge of the border for her entire life with her grandmother. When news of an outsider being seen near the village arises, panic and fear reaches the hearts of those that live there. The royal military enters the village in hopes of stopping the curse where it lies. They patrol the streets and a curfew is set for the protection of the villagers but even that doesn't seem enough. When restlessness reaches its peak, accusations arise and the town is purged to prevent the curse from reaching farther into the Inside. Villagers are killed on site. Winry runs away and is chased into the woods by the guards. She runs for days trying to get away from the guards but they continue to pursue her in fear of her heading to another village and infecting them. Unfortunately the soldiers manage to stick her in the leg with an arrow eventually. She falls a great distance down a rocky cliff and hits her head, rendering her unconscious.

Winry wakes up in a bed with a nice fire crackling in the hearth but there is no one around. She has trouble remembering what happened to her and doesn't know how she got there. She tries to stand up but there is an unbandaged wound on it. There are medical supplies set next to the bed and she quickly bandages her leg up wondering why the person who helped her didn't do it before. As she is finishing up the door opens and she looks up to see who it is. An Outsider walks in carrying a tray of food and she nearly screams seeing the monster's dark black form. The Outsider is startled by her shout and manages to clumsily drop the tray to the ground shattering everything. He curses and scolds her for screaming like that. Winry asks him what he is doing there and what he wants from him, more importantly if he touched her. The Outsider explains that he saw the guards chasing her in the woods and stopped them from putting another arrow in her. He didn't touch her but managed to drag her back to the house on a litter made from blankets and sticks to try and help her. It was because his fear of cursing her that he didn't bandage her leg when he could. He must reinforce the fact that he didn't touch her over a thousand times just so Winry would stop fearing that she was cursed. The Outsider cleans up his mess and Winry introduces herself, still slightly afraid of the monster before her. She asks for his name but the Outsider is very hesitant on giving it. After a bit of pestering he tells her his name is Edward.

The Outsider leaves to get her more food, because the only stuff that he had was what had dropped on the ground. Outsiders don't need to eat which is why they don't have much to give. When he is gone, Winry tries her best to get up and sneak away. She can't walk too well and only manages to get to the woods outside of the abandoned cottage Edward was occupying. When Edward returns he finds his house empty and fears for the worse. He runs out and finds Winry trying to run away on her bad leg. She falls and he manages to catch up to her with his long legs. He scolds her for trying to run away by herself and she demands that he lets her go. Rather rudely he tells her that she is free to go but that she should reconsider running away by herself lest she wants to get cursed by an outsider. She is confused by this and states that he is an outsider and that she is trying to get away from him for that reason. Edward is an outsider but is trying his best to help her and not curse her however he knows that other outsiders are angry with what happened to them or what they are and will try their best to turn humans into monsters like them. Since she can't walk well enough to go out by herself, she agrees to stay with him until she is better but warns him that the instant she is well she is going to find her way back home wherever that may be. Edward agrees to her terms and finds a branch for her to use as a walking stick because he can't carry her back to the house.

He tries to make her dinner but manages to burn everything. Winry settles for some bread and berries to prevent the house from burning down. Edward fixes the fire and tells her to change her own bandages before going to bed then disappears into the cottages study for the rest of the night. Winry hobbles back to her room and redresses her wound in silence. She is scared as to what will happen to her as the night wears on and wonders how on earth she will ever get back home, wherever that might be. (At this point she can't remember what happened to her village).

The next morning is about the same. Edward woke up very early to gather food from one of the abandoned villages. He returns but Winry intervenes when he tries to make breakfast again and makes it herself, not wanting to waste anymore food than they must. She makes Edward a plate but he tells her that he can't eat it. Edward later goes out to chop some wood for their fire and Winry becomes very bored from staying inside all of the time. She wanders around and before long finds herself in the study exploring the desk and its many scattered papers and books. She notices scientific arrays and equations near an old journal but doesn't get to look at it long before Edward comes in to find her. He yells at her for being in there but Winry just asks him why she couldn't explore the house when she can't leave. They argue for a little bit but eventually come to a stand still. She is booted from the study and is told never to go in there again without anymore explanation.

The following day Winry complains to Edward that she is bored. He tells her that it isn't his problem and that she should go find something to make herself unbored as he goes into the study and locks himself away. Winry adventures around the house again but quickly finds herself in the immediate yard looking at the tools near the flower garden. She finds a broken and beaten clock outside and picks it up. She busies herself to fixing it and brings it back inside.

Edward, is oblivious to all of this until the clock strikes the hour and he hears the chimes suddenly go off in his house. He curiously goes out and into the kitchen and sees Winry wobbling on her good leg as she tries to hang the clock up on the wall. He asks her what she is doing but only manages to scare her. The clock slips out of her hands and shatters to the ground forcing her to fix it again. She returns it to the table and begins her work once more, angry that Edward had startled her. Edward joins her at the table, curious as to what she was doing and asks her where she found it. He had thrown it long ago and accidentally broke it. She says that throwing a clock usually causes it to break and asks why he had thrown it to begin with. He seems rather reluctant to answer and just cuts it short and says how he didn't like seeing time count itself away. He wanted to fix it for a while but he gave up. She asks him why he can't fix a clock but can work on complex equations in his study. He answers that his work has nothing to do with mechanics and that he had never learned anything like that.

Winry gets into telling him about her granny and the mechanic work that she did all the time. Edward asks her what she remembered about her family and she said that the last thing she remembered was an outsider being spotted near the village before she woke up in his house. There is a small pause but Edward reassures her that they will find her way back to them. Silence stretches the conversation and Winry eventually questions him about his family. Surely even a monster needed to be born somewhere right? Edward stops the conversation there and doesn't say anything about it. He just says that he had been away from them for a long time and sometimes wishes that he could stop counting it. Winry stops fixing the clock for a little bit, realizing why he had thrown it to begin with. She however decides to continue to fix it and states that he shouldn't look at time as counting how long he has been away but counting down till he could be reunited again. That was what she was counting for. The outsider seemingly smiles at this and when she is done he helps her hang it back on the wall.

Edward is working in his study one night when Winry is asleep. He gets distracted from his work and starts to write in his journal about the peculiar finding of Winry. He questions why he brought her back at all and didn't leave her out there. He is used to living alone but eventually in his writing admits to himself that even he couldn't let Winry feel the loneliness he has. He doesn't want her to become cursed like he has. He begins to reflect on when he wasn't a monster but doesn't get far when he hears a muffled howl from outside. He looks up and out the window as he recognizes it to be another outsider. In fear of them coming near his house, he gathers his lantern and his coat and goes outside, scouring the small perimeter of his yard he finds nothing. He returns to his cottage but is still slightly worried. He checks the guest room to see Winry safely sleeping in her bed and this eases his worries. Closing the door he returns to his study and picks his pen up but couldn't continue his journal. He ends it there.

Winry heals in a couple weeks but even though her leg is still weak she demands to go back to her village. Edward says that he doesn't know where she came from but knows that there is an inhabited human village a few days hike away. He takes her to a nearby abandoned village and makes her a pack with food and a few blankets. She helps and makes him one even though he can't eat. She argues that he at least needs to pack himself a blanket in case he gets cold. He agrees to take his own pack and slips the small hatchet in for firewood and some matches. They begin their journey and follow an abandoned road through the dark woods. They travel slow and need to take many rests because Winry's endurance is still low. During the nights Edward stands guard over Winry. He hears a few more strange calls from other outsiders but other than that there is no trace of them.

After a few days they come to a crossroads. Edward points in one direction which is the longer way through the woods. Winry challenges him why they can't go the shorter way through another abandoned village. He is stubborn and tries to make them take the longer way around however Winry wins the argument because she needs to restock on food. Their journey that far took a couple days longer than expected. Edward reluctantly takes her through the village. When they get to the village Winry begins to search the houses for food. She notices that the Outsider is acting very distant as they travel through the village. She gathers enough food and they start to make their journey out of the village when Edward halts in his track. She wants to ask him what is wrong but notices that his eyes and full attention are locked on a small house on the hill. Without a word he starts to walk towards it like he is in a trance. He pauses outside of the door and his hand falters on the knob It seems like he is remembering it. Winry wants to ask him about it but keeps her mouth shut as he finally decides to enter. The house is dark and dusty. Winry sees Edward distantly run his fingers along the tables and he wanders around the house. He comes across a family portrait and picks it up. It shows a small family each with smiling faces. Two small boys with shining golden eyes and hair are grinning goofily back at the camera, the older one holding onto the younger one. Edward is silent as he looks at it and Winry notices tears in his eyes which she just noticed then that are golden. Before she could say anything more, Edward puts the picture down and shakes his head, clearing it. He says that they shouldn't have come there and that they should continue. Edward leaves the house but before Winry can follow she sneaks the picture out of the frame and takes it with her.

She asks him what that was all about. He says that a family once lived there. Many families once lived in that town and that it lived in prosper until one day a kid foolishly went into the woods and never returned. A few weeks after an outsider made its first appearance in the village. They attacked it and requested the military to come in. He said it was funny, the outsider never killed anyone yet so many people died anyways. She asks why a monster would be so concerned over humans. He simply states that outsiders are only created when no one wants them anymore.

They make their way out of the town and down the road. At night fall Winry makes camp and Edward sets up a fire for her so she wouldn't get cold. They hear a rustling in the bushes and Edward quickly drops what he is doing and gets in front of Winry. She asks what is going on but he tells her to keep quiet. In the darkness they hear a harsh low voice come out. It asks why there is a human in the dark woods. Edward states that he is returning her to her village and that she isn't going to be there much longer. Another dark figure like Edward comes out of the shadows. It is cloaked in a dark black cloth and looks bigger and a little more demonic than Edward's own dark figure. Edward recognizes it as the other outsider Kimblee. It asks why he wasn't cursing her and Edward simply states there is no reason to.

…

"You know it was them who abandoned us, who locked us out of their houses and villages. Once you return her home they will surely attack you. I just don't see why you bother at all," the monster chided. Edward's eyes narrowed at him and he felt his muscles tense as he watched the creature lean lazily back on a tree. Their eyes were locked and Edward felt himself become wary of what it was going to do. "Yes, I really don't understand why you bother at all."

"They are scared and don't know what they are dealing with. All she wants to do is get home, nothing more. I don't see why I shouldn't help her do that," Edward growled defensively. "You surely were afraid of us at one point in your life." A low chuckle erupted out Kimblee's chest and it pushed itself off the tree and clapped its hands eagerly.

"I was! I was! You got me there. But now I embrace it!" he exclaimed joyously. "All of the things we are able to do without all of the hindrances of sleep or food. It is definitely a superior way to live in my mind."

"We are monsters any way you look at it," Edward scolded him.

"Ah, but if you think about it, we are only monsters because we are different, Edward," Kimblee chimed. "But if everyone is a monster, no one would be. So I must question your logic once more. Why do you refuse to touch this human?"

"The curse doesn't make the monster, Kimblee, we were already one before we looked like this." Kimblee's eyes narrowed and Edward saw his muscles tense. The smile ran out of his eyes and Edward found himself taking a defensive step backwards. In an instant Kimblee lunged.

….

The two outsiders fight ferally and Winry watches in horrified awe as they turn almost animalistic in their fight. At one point it is thought that Kimblee won and he comes after her as Winry is too afraid to run far however Edward tackles him and sends him to the ground before he could touch her. Edward grabs a hold of the hatchet and slams it into the outsider's skull repeatedly. Kimblee's body still struggles to get him off and Edward manages to chop the creature's hands off before he is thrown off him. Kimblee, seeing that he was no longer in a state to fight, runs away for the time being. Edward wants to chase after him but Winry stops him and makes him drop the hatchet. They decide that it would be for the best if they kept moving a little farther.

They make it to the next town and camp in an abandoned house. Winry has trouble sleeping and talks to Edward for a little bit as he keeps watch. She asks him if he was the boy in the story he told her earlier. Edward admits it but says that he isn't that kid anymore. She states that there should be a way to stop the curse. Nothing is incurable but Edward says that he has been searching almost his whole life for a way to lift the curse and has yet to find one. Until then he can't return to the life he once lived. He had tried that already and the entire town perished because of it.

A few days later they come upon the wall to the Inside. Edward stays back and urges Winry forward. She thanks him for helping her back. She is a little upset for leaving him but he says that she still doesn't belong in the outside. She says that if he could she would hug him but she can't. So instead she gives him her scarf. Winry walks through the woods into the clearing near the wall. The guards halt her and ask her where she came from. She tells them that she is from Resembool but got lost and asks if they could help her get back. Hearing this, the guards exclaim that she is cursed and raise their bows and swords at her. Winry staggers back and runs back towards the woods as they chase after her again. Edward, who was watching in the woods to make sure she makes it into the inside sees this an rushes out between Winry and the guards. The guards stop, afraid to be touched by the outsider. They try to kill him with some arrows but they don't work. He yells at them, angry at what they were doing. The guards don't shoot but they don't lower their weapons. Seeing this standstill, the gate opens and another soldier walks out. He introduces himself as Colonel Roy Mustang and asks Edward what is going on. Edward states that Winry needs to get back to her family in resembool and that she isn't curse. He ensured of it. Mustang states that there is no one of Resembool left. It was purged a few weeks prior for being infected. Everyone is dead. Winry cries and asks why that was, why they would kill everyone so relentlessly. The Colonel, unlike the guards, looks very regretful for what had happened. He tells them that an outsider was seen near resembool and the town was assumed to be infected but the fact that Winry still wasn't a monster should be proof enough of their mistake. Against the other guards concerns he tells them to escort Winry to the inside. They comply and Mustang turns back to Edward and thanks him for helping her. He asks if there was anything he wanted from them in return. Edward says that he doesn't but Mustang pushes. The Colonel knows that there is more to them than what they are told to believe and asks them again. Edward admits that if there was a possibility for him to find someone in the inside, to find if they are even alive, he would appreciate it. Mustang agrees and they say their goodbyes before returning to the inside.

Edward watches Winry go through the gates before he retreats into the dark woods. He feels very lonely again and a little sad with her leaving but tries to pretend that that was how things should have been. Edward returns home none the wiser that the Insiders want to try and destroy the curse once and for all. The Insiders, realize the damage they are doing just by running away and destroying their own villages. They want to stop the curse at the source and kill the outsiders. Winry is interrogated for information that she could have gotten from her time in the woods. She tries to explain that Edward wasn't evil but everyone but Mustang doesn't believe her.

She goes through the Inside and with Mustang try to hunt down someone from any of the destroyed villages. Mustang remembers the name that Edward wanted and finds Alphonse Elric who lives in a small tenant building in the city. They knock on the door and try to tell Alphonse why they were there. When they say Edward's name Alphonse yells at them that his brother is dead and that if they wanted to taunt him they should just leave. Winry pulls out the picture that she found in the village and shows it to Alphonse. Stunned that she had it he asks if Edward is really alive. She tells him that in a way, he is. Alphonse allows them in and Winry explains her adventure with Edward and what he told him. Alphonse asks if this is true and that the outsider wasn't trying to trick her.

Mustang actually is the one who says that it is true. He had seen part of the transformation himself. Lieutenant Hawkeye had left the Inside for a normal patrol with Mustang but had been touched by an attacking outsider. He couldn't do anything as he watched her turn into an outsider. A recovery patrol came out to find them when they didn't return on time and killed the Lieutenant before she could fully transform to stop the curse. The brought Mustang back safe and sound but news of the encounter was not spread.

Mustang warns Alphonse that they must go warn his brother before the Inside troops go to exterminate the outsiders. It would undoubtedly turn into a full war. They gather horses and they sneak out of the village riding fast to try and find Edward before the military can. Winry leads the way as she knows the trail to the cottage Edward stays in.

Meanwhile, Edward is staying in his house and sees the reminants of Winry's stay. He tries to pick up and when he notices the clock he takes it quietly back off of the wall once more and sets it on the kitchen table. He doesn't want to throw it away but he doesn't think he could keep it. He goes into his study to try and continue his work but he can't focus enough at all. There is a knock on is door and he curiously gets up to see who it is. He opens the front door to see the mangled form of Kimblee in front of him. His head is still split but it looks like he sewed his hand back onto his stump. Seeing that Winry is no longer there, Edward reluctantly allows him inside. Kimblee taunts him lightly and says that the human abandoned him again and that is all they are good for. Edward doesn't retaliate. Kimblee warns him that now the humans know where he lives and undoubtedly will be coming for them. Edward says he doesn't care. He will stay there. It isn't like they could be killed easily. Kimblee says that he isn't going to let them get that far. At first the humans don't want them and now they are trying to exterminate them. Kimblee says that he will curse the lot of them and take their souls before they get him. He asks Edward if he knew how they were made. Edward replies of course. They were cursed by another outsider and their bodies turned into monster. Kimblee questions him what the first outsider was then. There always has to be a first. Edward doesn't know what he means. But Kimblee just says think about it. Kimblee leaves making note that he isn't going to hold back.

Edward is left by himself for a couple days. He tries going back to his normal life. He is sweeping the floor when he hears a knocking on the door. Knowing it isn't Kimblee and fearing it to be the military, Edward grab the hatchet from next to the fireplace incase. He opens the door slowly just to come face to face with Winry, the soldier, and Alphonse. Edward recognizes him immediately and is frozen in shock upon seeing him. Edward quickly shuts the door without saying a word and locks it not wanting them to come in. Winry knocks on the door again and asks him why he isn't coming out. He is terrified. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want to touch Alphonse nor does he want him to see what he turned into. Winry continues to try and talk to him through the door but Edward doesn't give in until he hears Alphonse's voice. Alphonse asks him if it really is him. Edward reluctantly admits yes after a hesitation. Alphonse convinces him into opening the door and he eventually complies. Seeing his brother is like a shock to his senses. They just kind of take each other in for a little bit. Alphonse reaches out to him as if to see if he is real but Edward side steps and nervously invites them inside. He is very careful to keep to himself as he makes a cup of tea for them. He is terrified of cursing Alphonse.

Mustang gets down to business and tells Edward that the military is behind them, coming to take the inside villages back and stop the curse. Edward says that he doesn't want to fight them he just wants to live quietly and not have to worry about infecting anyone. He already destroyed his own village he thought he killed Alphonse all this time, he doesn't want it to happen. Alphonse tries to reassure him but it doesn't get through. After realizing that he won't be moved, they end up leaving. Alphonse wants to stay with his brother, he doesn't want to leave him alone. He says he had lived alone long enough but Edward gets angry at him and chases him away. The three of them leave and try to make plans on what to do next. They still don't want to leave Edward alone to the hands of the military. They sure were on their way by then. Mustang says that they should try and delay the troops by blocking off the cross roads through the abandoned village. They would then be forced to take the long way around. They start to head towards the crossroads but they realise they are too late. The troops are already on their way and they are forced to turn back to warn Edward.

Edward, still in his house, hears shouts from outside and clashing of metal. He tiredly walks outside to see a battle waging in the woods. He walks out towards the fight to see Winry, Alphonse, and Mustang defending themselves. They had been claimed by the military to be cursed or manipulated by the outsiders. Soldiers are swarming the woods in search of outsiders like him. Edward hears a loud scream as he sees Alphonse get caught in the shoulder by a bolt from a crossbow. One of the soldiers are standing over him with an arrow drawn back. Alphonse tries to get away but Edward knows he won't make it. He runs forward and covers Alphonse. The arrow sticks in his hip as they tumble forward. When they recover Edward realizes that he is holding Alphonse and panics as he lets him go. Alphonse's eyes are wide with shock as he not only sees that Edward saved his life, but also just cursed him on accident. Soldiers relentlessly release arrows into Edward's back and Alphonse scrambles away from him afraid that he is now cursed. Edward is too stunned at what he had done to fight as the soldiers throw bolas at him and tangle him up in the ropes. He is captured by the soldiers and is dragged into a cage by ropes. The soldiers quickly forget about the few humans there and leave with the outsider in tow.

Winry and Mustang chase down Alphonse, begging him to stop when they are out of danger. Alphonse exclaims that he was cursed, that Edward touched him when he tried to save him. He doesn't know what to do. He wants to help his brother but he is distressed that he is now cursed. Mustang lists some symptoms that he might have because of the curse but Alphonse says no to all of them after a quick diagnostic. Mustang tells him that he is surely cursed, but he doesn't seem to be catching as of yet. He is safe. Winry asks him what the soldiers are going to do with Edward. She is terrified for them. Mustang is really confused because he thought that the soldiers were going to go kill the outsiders, not capture them. Winry says that they should go and find Kimblee the other outsider. She warns them that he is one that is willing to curse nearly everyone near him but they need his help to understand more about the outsiders. They hunt the woods near the village and find bodies of soldiers scattered through the treeline. Kimblee is walking through the woods not even trying to hide from the soldiers that just passed through. He has some arrows sticking out of his back and it appears that he had gotten in a scuffle which probably ended in the lives of those soldiers. Winry calls out to him and Kimblee looks almost thrilled to see them. He says that they were idiots to come there because he wasn't going to let them go without being cursed. After he says that he senses that Alphonse is already carrying it and almost laughts at the realization that Edward cursed his own brother. Winry begs Kimblee to help them. She asks them why the soldiers would capture Edward. Kimblee seems really surprised at this as he thought that Edward would have left or been captured. Winry asks him if there is any known way to kill them. Kimblee says that he doesn't know much of the outsiders except for the fact that they were created by humans. Winry says that is obvious, outsiders are cursed humans but Kimblee corrects her. The humans made the curse. Mustang asks how that is possible. Kimblee states that immortality was never meant to be but people undoubtedly tried. The curse was a result of people getting too close to God. There is a debt to still be paid and that is why the curse still exists. The humans are undoubtedly trying to undo their mistake and try and reverse the curse by experimenting on an outsider. They decide to return to the city in hopes of saving their friend and hopefully finding a way from stopping the curse from spreading through Alphonse.

Edward is taken into the Inside for the first time since he became an outsider. However the streets are empty as the citizens were ordered to stay inside away from the outsider. He is taken straight into the capital to the castle where the king is staying. Edward is taken to the dungeons and the cage is carefully set in one of the cells. He is still tied up from the ropes but the soldiers are too scared of him to untie him. Edward is still slightly in shock from what he did to his brother and becomes secluded in his thoughts. Most of the guards try to taunt him as he waits down there but he ignored them the best he could. That is, until the prisoner in the cell across from him starts to talk to him. Ling Yao was arrested for stealing the king's bread. He says that he is a rather peculiar person and he never met anyone like him before. Edward mumbles that it is because he is a monster not a human. Ling laughs and challenges his accusation. He says that he can feel the chi in everyone. If he was a monster he wouldn't be able to feel it in him. He is still human. However, Ling does say that it seems his chi feels trapped in a way. Like it can't escape. The guards tell the prisoners to shut up.

Later a pair of guards come down and actually apologise to him. Lt. Ross is assigned to keep guard one night with Sgt. Brosh. She sympathizes with him and asks him if he is going to be alright. At first Edward doesn't want to talk to them but he eventually relents. She acts slightly like a mother out of her own curiousity about outsiders. They talk for a little bit until royal soldiers come holding Edward's journal with his other notes. They had raided his house and stole his research. One named Envy interrogates him on it and demand that they tell him the cure to the curse. Edward says that there isn't one. He didn't figure it out yet as much as he wished he did. Envy chuckles as he reads the journal, the later chapters about Winry. He taunts him about his feeling for her and says that monsters will never be loved by humans unless they were dead. Envy suspects that the only cure to the disease is to find how to kill the outsiders.

Edward is taken into another side of the dungeons where a scientists named Tucker has been working on a cure for the curse. There are alchemical arrays there and Edward recognizes them as some of his. Tucker mentions that his journal really helped in the progress he had made so far. He mentions that the symptoms of the curse are like rebounds of an unbalanced alchemical reaction. He suspects that the only way to stop the rebound is to balance the equation, either by making the energy input equal to finish or by taking away the product to make the equilibrium reverse itself. The only issue is that they don't know what the original equation was. Tucker experiments different arrays on Edward to kill the outsider to erase traces of the disease. None of them work. But as Tucker tries his, Edward works on his own. Even though outsiders can't perform alchemy, he can try.

Alphonse, Winry, Mustang, and now Kimblee make their way into the Inside to find Edward and bring him back home. They incapacitate the gate guards just to find that the entire city looks empty. The curfew is still in effect and they sneak through the empty streets. Mustang, coming upon some guards patrolling the streets hears them talk about how the outsider was going to be presented to the king the next evening. Mustang says that the best time to do anything is during that presentation. However they need to go in and alert Edward of the plan. Alphonse volunteered to do it but Mustang is concerned. Alphonse started showing signs of the curse like a small bruise on his neck and losing the sense of touch. Alphonse states that Edward is his brother and if things go south, he would at least like to apologise to him for calling him monster. Mustang relents and Winry suggests that Alphonse wears his military uniform so that he could sneak in amongst the guards. They comply and swap clothes.

Alphonse sneaks into the castle dungeon but gets lost. One of the prisoners, Ling, says that he seems familiar though Alphonse says he never met him before. Ling says that his chi feels familiar to the outsider that he saw in there earlier. Al asks where he was taken and Ling says he would tell him if he lets him out. Alphonse does and Ling shows him through the dungeons where he thought Edward was taken. They find him in one of the last rooms, kept in the cage. Edward is still tied but is startled to see Alphonse there. He nearly cries as he tries to apologise to Alphonse for ruining his life and cursing him. Alphonse says for him not to think like that. He shouldn't have ran away. He shouldn't have been afraid. Alphonse says that with the curse now, should it take effect or not, means that they could be a family again and live together once more. All he wants is to be reunited with his older brother. Should he lose all of his feeling and change into a dark child to do so he would. Alphonse tells him about the plan and says that he will get out soon, hopefully with no trouble. Edward tells him to take Tucker's notes so that he won't have the circles and to replace it with one of his own just incase something were to happen. He doesn't know that it works or not but he knows anything is better than what Tucker had prepared for them. Alphonse does it and makes his goodbyes before leading Ling out of the dungeons.

Mustang is less than excited to have another person with them. Ling feels very disturbed with Kimblee's presence. They make their plans and get a good nights sleep.

Edward is untied and taken up to the courtroom in his cage. King Bradley is in the throne room along with many other people who want to view their progress on the eradication of the curse. Tucker makes a very long but good presentation about his research. The king walks up to the cage and observes Edward on the inside. He lowly comments about Edward's monstrosity but also states that if immortality was able to come without the cost of a cursed body, he would gladly make another outsider to gain it. It is then that Edward realizes that the king was the one who made the first outsider and the curse that went along with it. King Bradely attempted to dawdle in immortality through alchemy and ended up turning his test subject into a monster. Edward horrified and angry that the king was the one who would set this curse upon his people becomes angry and shouts at him. The king plays it off to the court as some of the outsider's lies and says to continue with the presentation but it doesn't get far. Winry and the rest of them pop out of the crowd to stop the transmutation and fight to get Edward out of there. Kimblee, comes in through the door where he was hiding and the fight begins while all of the civilians run away at the sight of a loose outsider in the Inside. Winry tries her best to unlock the cage that Edward is kept in however the King catches her and pulls her away. Edward tries his best to break out but the cage is strong and he can't escape. Mustang and Alphonse keep the guards at bay and Edward catches sight of Kimblee fighting as well. He yells at him that the King was the one who created the curse and Kimblee becomes overly thrilled that he now found the man to exact his revenge. He attacks King Bradley and they fight. Kimblee pins the king against the cage and Edward wraps his arm out and holds him there. However out of the corner of his eye he catches Tucker, the alchemist activating the circle around them to try and dispose of the two outsiders at the same time. Alphonse calls out to him and tries to get the lock off of the cage to get Edward out of there before the circle is fully activated however it is too late. They get caught in the reaction just as Kimblee crushes the king's neck with his hand and the king drives a sword through the monster's stomach.

When the transmutation is over it appears that nothing has changed except both the king and kimble appear to be dead. Everyone is very confused about this because swords and mortal wounds cant kill an outsider. Winry rushes forward and breaks the lock on the cage and opening it to let Edward out. Edward and Alphonse are both in a daze but Alphonse manages to help his brother out of the cage. The guards are shocked at the death of their king and they all quickly make an escape. Mustang holds the rest of them off along with Ling and Edward, Alphonse, and Winry leave the Inside for the dark woods. They walk for a long time and make camp in the house that Alphonse and Edward used to live in as kids. Edward for some reason falls ill with a fever and he says that his body is burning which is strange because he can't feel anything. Winry advises Alphonse on how to take care of him because she can't touch Edward however Alphonse starts to become ill as well. They stay in the house overnight and Winry tends to them as best as she can. She keeps watch out of the cottage to make sure soldiers didn't follow them.

Winry falls asleep on the porch and is startled awake by a crash from inside. Afraid that someone snuck in while she was sleeping she grabs the frying pan she was holding as a weapon and runs into the bedroom where the two elrics were staying. She sees Edward on the floor struggling to get up. He looks terribly weak but his eyes are wide with shock. She runs over to him and asks him if he is alright. Edward looks up to her, his golden eyes locking with hers. He says that his body hurts and Winry panics, worrying that he is dying. However Edward stops her and in a joyous voice he tells her that he can actually feel again. Catching onto what this means, Winry almost starts to cry. She wakes up Alphonse who is in the next room. Alphonse nearly doesn't notice but he could feel too and the dark splotch that was consuming his chest and neck before now dwindled to a smaller space. Amazed at what is happening both Alphonse and Winry keep close watch on Edward as the day goes on. Edward eventually gains enough strength back to walk around the house. They watch as his horns gradually shrink and the darkness and hair that consume his body starts to disappear. His tail is gone and his face starts to return to normal. Edward cries as he sees himself back to normal and Winry is breath taken as she sees what Edward truly looked like all this time. She asks how this was possible and Edward explains the circle that he made. He doesn't know if it is a lasting cure but he still can't believe he is really back to normal. All of those years alone, he now can return to his family, however small that might be now.

Winry declares that there must be a celebration and goes out to find some apples for a pie. As she heads out however she is stopped on the road by a line of soldiers. They order her to stop but she turns around and runs back to the house, chucking apples at any soldier who comes to near with deadly accuracy. She bursts into the house and shuts the door quickly trying to lock it. The Elrics ask what is going on and she tells them that the soldiers found them and are outside. Edward hears banging on the door as the soldiers try and talk to them. They say that they need them to return to the inside with them. Edward says that he is not going back with them just so they could kill them. However the soldier corrects them and states that the outsider's corpse that was left in the castle turned back to normal. Tucker told them that he knows the circle. They had found a cure. But they need Edward to go back and work on it. They agree and return to the Inside with them.

Mustang apparently is trying to install order while they try to figure out what to do without a king. He is surprised to see Edward the way he is but speaks nothing of it other than saying he looks good. Edward recovers his journal from the dungeons and starts to copy down the circle and work on it. The day is saved but it takes a while for the inside to warm up to him and even longer for them to spread the word of a cure to the outside. Monsters journey into the Inside and are treated and cured just to return to their families. Eventually the wall separating the two worlds is knocked down and the humans spread back out to their previously abandoned villages. The world is good.


	10. The World Inside Me

_**The World Inside Me**_

 _ **Summary:**_ _Every person has their own internal world where their mind wanders to in their_ day dreams _. It is_ a world _that holds no secrets but the ones the owner doesn't tell. It is the true essence of the person living_ as a world _inside of them. People rarely let someone see this world, often keeping it closed off or covered up in the folds and pockets of their clothes. Edward doesn't wear that big coat just because he thinks it looks cool. Inspired by fanart by Lightsout777 on_ tumblr _._

 **Plot:** Every person has their own internal world where their mind wanders to in their day dreams. It is a world that holds no secrets but the ones the owner doesn't tell. It is the true essence of the person living as a world inside of them. People rarely let someone see this world, often keeping it closed off or covered up in the folds and pockets of their clothes. Some people pry, or catch a glimpse of it in their passing but to actually see and walk through someone else's dreamscape is a rarity.

Edward doesn't wear that big coat just because he thinks it looks cool. Though everyone is curious, Edward doesn't let anyone see the world inside of him. Thought of as grumpy and closed off because of it by his co-workers they expect his internal world to be dull and grey. They couldn't have been more wrong. Everyone around him are surprised when they catch a glimpse of his internal world through the folds of his coat and see a bright blue sky. What they don't realise is that Edward isn't grumpy, his biggest secret is just how much he cares for everyone. The only one who understands this is Alphonse even though he never saw Edward's internal world. He just understands and questions Edward why he never shows anyone.

As the tension with the homunculi increases, the bonds between Edward and his unit grow stronger and strained. He is having a harder time not showing how much he worries for everyone and its getting more difficult for him to contain it. The sunshine in his internal world is sometimes so bright it glows out from beneath his coat. When Edward returns the gun to Hawkeye after getting out of gluttony's stomach, Hawkeye tells him about Ishval. Not knowing any other way to show him, she allows him to see her own dreamscape. Edward is filled with the fear and regret of killing innocent people as he sees fire bridging across the sky of her internal world. Amongst this he feels her passion for Mustang and protectiveness of him and Alphonse. Edward better understands the struggles of ishval. When Hawkeye notes that he must really love Winry, Edward ofcourse really denies it but she can see right through it. Eventually, Edward admits it and asks how she knew if he never showed his world to anyone. She states that she of all people would understand what love like that would look like without needing to see someone's internal world. They all express love differently however she does challenge why Edward doesn't allow himself to open up more. Edward brushes it off and pretends she doesn't know what she's talking about. He does not admit that the reason why he doesn't open up more is that he is afraid he would get hurt if people really understood how much he cared for others.

Eventually, before Mustang sends Edward up to Briggs the fear of the unknown overwhelms him. Edward has trouble admitting he is scared for what will happen to everyone now that the unit is dispersed. Mustang tries to assure him that nothing would happen. He jokes that if something were to happen to himself it might have been a great relief to Edward not to have him hanging over him anymore. Angry at his assumption that he doesn't care for Mustang, Edward eventually shows Mustang his dreamscape. Mustang is the first person to actually see it. Mustang is filled with all of Edward's love for him. He feels his respect for him as an alchemist and a superior officer. He feels how grateful Edward is for going to resembool to recruit him and the happiness he has felt since that day (outside of the pain and trouble). Mustang is completely astonished that Edward's internal self was something so powerful like that. He apologizes for what he said previously and tries his best to reassure Edward that everything will be alright. Even though they don't know what else is going to happen in the future, he knows that it is for the best. Edward leaves with these words of reassurance and the 520 cenz.

After the promised day the unit notices that Edward, aside from the great happiness Alphonse's body brings him, is rather distantly upset. They ask Mustang what is going on and he notes that with Edward he wouldn't expect anything less. They are really confused and Mustang mentions that he had seen Edward's internal world and now that he is blind he understands it even more. He doesn't tell them what it looked like and states that it isn't something for him to tell. But Edward, along with the rest of them, lost many friends during the Promised day and it is affecting him. The unit takes this to mind and try to talk to Edward about it. They comfort him and allows him to grieve but encourages him to still be happy. Though they haven't seen his internal world, they now understand that the grumpy teenager wasn't that anymore. Edward visits Mustang knowing that he must have talked to them about it and asks him what he told them. Mustang says nothing other than that he lost a few good friends. Edward is grateful for this. Mustang notes that Hawkeye might have let it slip that he likes Winry. Edward flushes red and tries his best to deny it but even Mustang knows that Hawkeye has the keenest eyes when it comes to something like that. Edward admits it and Mustang encourages him to finally be more open. He says with all the shit that has happened in his lifetime, they don't know what the next day will bring. He better try and let his friends understand how much he cares for them before it is too late and they never know. Edward understands this and contemplates it for a bit. Eventually he tries it. He first starts with his brother.

When Edward returns back to Resembool and proposes to Winry he lets her into his internal world. She is hesitant at first, completely shocked that he was allowing it. She knows that he isn't the most open person and asks him if he really wants to show it. Edward nods his head and says that there is nothing he is ashamed of hiding anymore. Winry feels all of the happiness Edward has been hiding over the years and is so overwhelmed with it that she begins crying. Edward laughs at her as she tries to wipe her eyes and she gets angry at him for being even more happy after she just felt all of that. He comforts her and Winry thanks him for everything. When he leaves on the train he looks out the window and waves to winry. He has no question in his mind that he did the right thing. He only wonders why he wasn't that open before.


End file.
